If I Risk It All
by Sgt.Pepperony
Summary: After the Avengers Civil War, Steve, Wanda, Sam and Bucky arrive in Paris. While they try to evade capture, Steve and Wanda have an encounter that makes them redefine their friendship. M for smut. *Complete*
1. Chapter One

**Title:** If I Risk It All **  
 **Author:**** Sgt. Pepperony  
 **Fandom:** Avengers (MCU)  
 **Pairings:** Steve/Wanda  
 **Rating:** M  
 **Disclaimer:** I do not own the Avengers, characters. Property of Marvel and Disney. Song by Sam Smith.

 **So this story is post-Civil War with the only divergence being the mid-credit scene. Enjoy.**

* * *

 _I've spent a lifetime running,  
And I always get away.  
But with you I'm feeling something,  
That makes me want to stay._

Chapter One

Paris looked so different to what it was in the Second World War. For one, the city had rebuilt itself from the ground up, and there were so many people bustling about their business like there was no tomorrow. Steve Rogers had been to Paris loads of times since he had woken up in the twenty-first century, mostly on S.H.I.E.L.D business. However, there was no S.H.I.E.L.D anymore. In fact, he was not even an Avenger anymore, if the Avengers even existed, which he highly doubted after the splintering of the group. If there was a team, Steve knew that they were in the government's hands.

It was August and the weather was sweltering. Not as much as it was during the trek to Morocco from Wakanda, but it was still uncomfortably hot. Steve had never known France to be this hot. Back in the War, he was stationed during the winter months and it had been unbearably cold. Bucky looked as though he was remembering what the city, but because of the changes that had been developing in the last seventy or so years, Steve could sense some sort of confusion in his friend's face.

"I know. It's strange to me too," he said.

"So what do we do now?" Sam asked as he got off the train carriage followed closely by Wanda.

"We find a hotel and crash for the night."

"And then what?" Wanda questioned.

"I don't know. Hide out I guess."

"Steve, we're on the run. Surely someone is going to recognise us in this city."

Wanda had been particularly doubtful of running from Wakanda, especially to Europe of all places. The only reason she had come is so she was not left alone. As appreciative as they all were to T'Challa for giving them refuge, they needed to get to Paris. Wanda had not voiced her doubt the entire journey but now they had arrived, she was fearful someone could report them to the authorities and she would be back in the cell on the Raft, only this time they would torture her on the hour rather than every six hours.

Steve turned to Wanda and put his hand on her shoulders. "Listen, if we keep our heads down and act normally, then we'll be okay. We just have to blend in."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Bucky asked.

-o-

"Bonjour, comment puis-je vous aider?" the receptionist asked Steve when he and Bucky came up to the check-in desk.

"Bonjour. Mes amis et moi ont besoin de deux chambres pour la nuit. Lits jumeaux, voisins et avec salle de bains privative," Steve replied.

While Steve was arranging the rooms, Wanda and Sam waited on the sofas. Wanda kept looking around in case someone looked at her suspiciously.

"Wanda, you need to relax," Sam told her. "You're drawing more attention to yourself by looking around like that."

"It's easy for you to say Sam. You were not the one they beat up, strapped in a straitjacket and shock collar, and tortured every few hours just for fun," she retorted.

Sam looked down. Wanda had more to fear than he did, and she was right in saying that it was easy for him to relax given what had occurred on the Raft. "I'm sorry Wanda. I didn't think."

"It's fine Sam. I do need to relax, but I can't help but fear that if I am caught, I'll be sent back to the Raft and the punishment will be worse than what I got the first time."

"Steve is not going to let that happen again."

"I know. I just think being in Europe and a whole country away from Berlin is making me nervous."

At that point, Steve and Bucky came over with two key cards. Steve explained, "Okay, we have two twin rooms that are next to one another. Wanda, you're with me, Sam you are bunking with Bucky."

"What?" asked Sam. Even Wanda looked at Steve as though he had lost his mind.

"You two need to put the past behind and get on. Driving through Africa with you two was like traveling with two squabbling brothers. We can't afford to split the group up further." Sam and Bucky sighed like two children being told off by their father. Steve looked to Wanda to see if she was okay with the arrangement. Wanda nodded, confirming that the arrangement was fine. "Right, now I suggest going up to the rooms and work out what we are going to do."

The hotel room that Steve and Wanda were going to share had two single beds, a bedside cabinet in the middle and a small shower room. There was also a door attached to the next room, which just so happened to be Bucky and Sam's room. On one of the beds, the four lay out what few possessions they had: one cell phone, one charger, a handful twenty dollar bills, a credit card in the name of Joseph Patrick McCoy and what probably was stale chewing gum.

"Well, we're screwed," Sam commented. "We have about sixty dollars, which is probably about fifty euros and a credit card that we probably won't be able to pay off."

"And we just bought two seventy euro a night hotel rooms," Wanda added.

"Well, it is lucky that King T'Challa is willing to pay off the debt," Steve pointed out.

"I literally cannot believe that we are indebted to a king," Bucky commented.

"Neither than I. Okay. So, I suggest we use the card to buy some fresh clothes so we blend in."

"Yeah, because we really are going to blend in with one of us looking like a hobo," Sam commented. Bucky glared at him.

-o-

"First rule of being on the run is to walk and not run," Steve told the other four as they walked straight into the shopping mall. Bucky had been given some sunglasses to hide his face while Wanda and Steve were wearing fake glasses.

"You sound like you know this from experience," Wanda commented.

"It's a long story. Just stay close and walk confidently."

Wanda would be lying if she thought that this was risky. It was not as though the four were unrecognisable, but Steve and Sam were right in saying that if she acted strangely then they would be bound to be caught. In one of the stores, Steve grabbed a bunch of t-shirts and jeans, as did Sam. Bucky tried to decide if he should follow suit since he probably would blend in more. Wanda picked up as many black, grey and red dresses as she could and soon all four had at least three bags on their persons.

The next task of the day was to groom Bucky, especially washing and cutting the matted dark hair. It would have been better to go to a salon but under the circumstances, Wanda was their best bet. When they got back to the hotel, Wanda washed Bucky's hair with the complimentary shampoo and conditioner and while it was still damp, she cropped the hair so it was a similar length to Steve's hair. She tried to give it a bit of style but as she was not a hairstylist it did not quite work out. At least it looked better than his shoulder-length hair.

"There, you look so much better now," Wanda commented when she brushed Bucky's fringe.

"Yeah, less like a hobo," Sam added. Wanda glared at Sam and he slightly retreated due to the red glow in her eyes creeping him out. "So, I am going to call it a night. Barnes you coming?"

"I guess," Bucky replied as he unwrapped the towel from around his shoulders. "Thanks Wanda. You did a good job."

"Thanks James."

"Night Wanda," Sam said.

"Night," she replied. She watched as the two walked through the door that adjoined their rooms and Wanda looked at the pile of hair on the floor. She quickly cleaned up the clumps and threw them into the bin. Once she tided the bathroom up, she went back into the bedroom where Steve was sitting by the window and sketching the skyline that if she squinted, she could make out the towers of Notre Dame. "I'm sorry if I am being a pain in the ass."

Steve looked at her and smiled softly, "You're not. Sam told me that you are worried about being sent back to the Raft."

Wanda walked over and sat on the bed nearest to Steve. "Why are we in Europe anyway?"

"Natasha managed to send a message out and I need to meet her. Sam and Bucky were not going to let me go on my own, and then you did not want to be left alone. Probably complicates everything."

"So if we had not tagged along, you would have gone back to Wakanda?"

"I would never leave the three of you behind, not after everything you've been through."

Wanda smiled but felt her stomach drop. The last time she and Steve had a heart-to-heart was just before Steve had gone to London for Peggy's funeral and it only just occurred to her that she had not asked how he was feeling following it. Granted, so much had happened that Steve must have felt as though a piano had been dropped on him.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm coping, just about. I sort of have to."

"You don't have to. You are allow to scream and punch something if it gets too much, and let's face it so much happened in such a short time."

"True. I'm not going to lie, I was close to breaking when I carried Peggy into the church."

Wanda's eyes looked to be welling slightly. She knew how Steve felt. She had almost broke when they buried Pietro. "I hated every second of Pietro's funeral. It finally hit me that he was actually gone and never coming back. It is not as though he died peacefully. He must have been in so much pain."

The tears finally escaped Wanda's eyes and she sniffed. Steve put his sketchbook down and went to sit by Wanda, and wrapped his arm around Wanda. Wanda rested her head on his shoulder and took a deep breath. He was so warm and there was a warmth developing in her blood. His thumb stroked along her bare shoulder and laced the fingers of his other hand with her hand. There they were. Two losers, in the sense they had lost people close to them, whether they were dead or alive but not in contact with them.

There was a faint kiss pressed to her forehead and the warmth in her blood only grew hotter. "You know, I thought there was a moment between us when you talked to me after Lagos."

"What sort of moment?"

Wanda looked up to him and his eyes were so blue that Wanda felt as though she could drown in them. She cupped his face and felt his rough stubble under her hand. Gently, ever so gently, she touched his lips with her own.

To her surprise, Steve did not pull back. The hand she was holding let go of hers and put it on Wanda's waist. She could faintly taste mint and lemonade on his lips. The hand on Steve's cheek to the back of his head and she raked her finger through Steve's straw-coloured hair.

Wanda pulled back and rested her forehead against his. She was breathing deeply and her heart was pounding.

"That was..." she breathed.

"Oui. C'est parfait."

Steve kissed her again, only deeper this time. Wanda lay down on the bed so her head was on the pillow and Steve's body lying beside her as his lips caressed hers. Wanda had never been so contented. His lips were slightly chapped but Wanda liked the way it felt against her lips, and his stubble was tickling her slightly which made her fight the urge to giggle. Her hand snuck under his grey t-shirt and her fingers touched his hard abdomen so softly Steve could scarcely feel it. Steve broke the kiss so Wanda could lift the hem of his t-shirt and pull it over his head.

Wanda had seem him shirtless before, but it still took her breath away. In the dim light, she could make out a scar on his stomach, possibly a from gunshot wound. It did not surprise her since he had been a solider, but it looked to have been a fairly recent wound, at least two years old.

"How did that happen?" she asked as the touched the scar.

"Bucky shot me. He was brainwashed at the time," he answered. She turned her head slightly to look at what appeared to be a faded burn mark. "That was from the Battle of New York. Laser beam or something."

"We should paint a target on your stomach."

Steve chuckled but then grew serious. "You really sure you want to do this?"

Wanda sat up so her emerald green eyes looked into his sea blue orbs. "I think we have proven that life is too short, and we have already missed one moment Steve. I don't want to miss this moment, because I don't know when we will find the next one."

Steve nodded and pushed the stray hairs from her eyes. Wanda began to unbutton the front of her dress and she lowered the straps so the grey material fell to her sides, leaving her chest only covered by a simple black bra. With them both on their knees looking at one another, Wanda began to press her dry lips against Steve's jaw. Her arms glided around his waist and rested her hands against his strong back. Steve's breaths were very heavy as her lips moved down to his neck. His hands finally sprang into action and he worked the clasp of her bra. Wanda lifted her arms slightly so the bra could be removed properly and Wanda pressed her body up against Steve's frame while he pulled the rest of the dress down. They kissed again, only this time, their tongues melded together, stroking and drinking one another in.

They lay back down again, and it was Steve's turn to look at her topless body. Her breasts were full, with soft flushes of pink flesh, and dusky peaks. He could also make out a jagged scar that went from the middle of her right hip up to just under her navel.

"Appendectomy. Sokovia did not have the best healthcare in the world, even with such a simple surgery," she explained. His finger stroked along the raised skin and he pressed his lips to it. Much to Wanda's surprise, rather than kissing her from the top down, he decided to go from the bottom, starting with her ankle.

Wanda's legs had been a source of fascination to Steve since the first time he had fully lay eyes on them. He was sparing with Sam at the time, in the early days of the new Avengers, when Wanda came into the gym wearing tight black yoga shorts. She had taken up yoga to help with calming her body down and training her focus. Despite the fact that Steve should have been defending himself, he was distracted by Wanda practicing some yoga poses and her fairly long and shapely legs. He was only snapped out of his distraction by Sam pinning him to the sparing mat.

Steve pressed a kiss to the inside of her legs and slowly, almost tortuously, he worked his way up the limbs. He reached the inside of her left thigh where he noticed a patch of scar tissue. Like the appendectomy scar, it looked to have been from her youth. He looked to her for answers. Wanda's lips went thin.

"After the shell hit my home, the shrapnel got caught in my leg."

Steve pressed a kiss to the scar and placed one final kiss onto the opposite thigh. He could faintly smell her through her panties, slightly musky but also had a hint of spice. He salivated slightly. His hand's grabbed the top of the cotton materiel and Wanda elevated her hips so Steve could take the panties off. Wanda lifted her legs so her thighs rested on the back of Steve's shoulders and lifted herself up so she was being supported by her forehands, only for her head to fall back once Steve bent his head to adore her.

She did taste of the spice Steve could smell, but there was also a slight sweetness to it. Steve would not call himself an expert of oral sex, but he was a quick learner. Wanda gave breathy instructions that Steve listened to and every time he responded, Wanda's reaction was very positive. There were gently gasps coming from the back of her throat and occasionally would say something in Serbian, that Steve was not entirely sure if what she was saying was curse words. Once he was sure that Wanda had been stimulated enough, he moved his hand down and gently eased his index finger inside of her. Wanda let out a sharp sort of groan, and she really had to hold in the noises she was making in fear that Sam and Bucky would overhear, especially when Steve wrapped his lips around her clitoris. Wanda almost squealed.

"You like that huh?" Steve asked.

"Don't be a smart-ass Steve."

Steve chuckled as he returned to his ministrations, gently teasing her clit with his tongue. He made small circles around the nub and Wanda's hands gripped the sheets and bit her lips to stop herself from crying out.

From the moment Steve had been pulled from the ice, he had not expected to find someone who understood his life story. Both Steve and Wanda were products of war - in birth and enhancement – and they had both lost so much: their families, their homes, and briefly their sanity. The Avengers had given them at least a reason to exist. It probably was not enough, but at this point in time, in a Parisian hotel, all they had was each other that that was enough.

"Steve," she gasped. "I want you inside me."

It took a lot for Steve to stop licking her, but he was very aware of how hard he was at that moment and if he did not alleviate this soon, he could explode without warning. He counted to three and removed his lips from her clitoris and pulled his finger out of her. He sat up and Wanda helped him unbutton his jeans and pull off the jeans and the boxers. Steve hissed as his erection hit the cool air. Wanda leaned up to kiss him and he rolled over so Wanda was straddling his hips. Something occurred to Steve and he had to voice it.

"Wait, I haven't got anything… you know."

It took Wanda a moment to understand the implication and she sighed. "It's okay. I got an implant when I joined the team."

Steve breathed a sigh of relief and kissed her again. Wanda gripped him in her hand and guided him to her centre and slowly she slide down his length. Both let out a groan as they were finally joined. Steve wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his hands on her back while Wanda put her hands on his shoulders to use as leverage.

"Oh fuck," she cursed. He was fairly big, yet not in a grotesque way. It seemed to suit the rest of his frame and once the initially shock of the size of him wore off, she found it so pleasant. For Steve, she was so hot and so slippery and the tightness surrounding him was sending a shiver up his spine every time she moved.

The breaths and murmurs from each other's lips were like music to one another, and Wanda felt so safe and happy in Steve's arms and pressed against his body. Safe and happy. Two things she had not known since she was ten.

"Baby," Steve murmured as he sucked on the side of her neck. For the first time, he took one of her breasts into his hand and rolled the mound, squeezed it and pinched her nipple. Wanda moaned in delight and pressed her head against his shoulder.

"Steve I…" Steve got the message and moved his hand between them so he could stroke her engorged clit. He rolled the bud ever so softly, but it was enough to tip her over the edge. Only it did not feel like falling; it felt as though she was flying. To stop herself from crying out so loudly, she dug her teeth into his shoulder. The tightening of her muscles around him caused Steve to groan and finally spill inside her.

Both were panting and aware they were drenched in sweat. Steve lay down with her on top of him. Given the bed was tiny, Wanda could hardly roll off him in fear that she may fall onto the floor. At best, she could lie half on top of him. They were trembling.

Inside Wanda's head, she was questioning where they were going from here. For now, however, she was satisfied in sleeping beside him and dealing with the consequences later.

* * *

 **So I don't know how many chapters this story is going to be. Unlike some of my other multi-chapter stories (Rubble especially - whose outline changed about five times before I finished it) I have no real outline for this. I'm literally going to pance this and see how it turns out.**


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

The sound of water flowing woke Steve from his dreamless sleep and he sat up in the bed as his brain adjusted to being awake. It took him a second to notice that Wanda was not beside him and he pulled on his boxers to walk to the bathroom. The room was coated in steam and Steve could just about make out Wanda's silhouette through the shower curtain.

"Wanda?" he asked.

"Yes?" she replied.

"I'm just checking you're okay."

"I'm fine. I just needed a wash. Can you pass a towel?" Steve heard the water switch off and handed a towel to Wanda. He could see her dry the excess water from her dark hair and then wrap the towel around her body. She pulled the curtain aside and gave Steve a soft smile as she climbed out the bath. "So… Last night happened."

"It did. Do …. Do you regret it?" Wanda looked incredibly confused and slightly hurt. Steve could see it in her eyes that she was probably assuming that Steve regretted their encounter. "I don't. I just wanted to-"

"I don't regret it Steve. It was unexpected but I do not regret it. Last night… It was wonderful."

Steve sighed in relief and smiled. "Okay that's a relief."

"Should we order breakfast? Eat on the balcony?"

"Sure." While Wanda dressed, Steve called for room service. He ordered eggs benedict with sausage, sourdough toast and bacon for himself while he ordered waffles with whipped cream, honey and strawberries for Wanda. By the time the food had been delivered, Wanda had dressed in a loose cotton red dress, but had not dried her hair. They took their plates and sat out on the balcony as the sun was just about rising over the city. Steve smiled as he watched Wanda cut her waffles and eat a piece out of them. She was glowing.

"Was last night your first time?" The question made Steve almost choke on his juice. He spluttered and patted his chest. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Steve replied sipping his water. "Just was not expecting that question."

"Was it though?"

"No. It was not my first time. Back in the War… Peggy and I spent a night together."

"Oh."

"It was one of the best nights of my life."

"I just assumed that you were…."

"You've been listening to Tony too much. I just don't like bragging about it. However, my love life since I woke up in the twenty-first century has been at a zero, at least until last night where it upgraded to one."

"I'm your first since you were defrosted?"

"Yeah. So what about you?"

"It was not my first time. When I was in the Sokovia Liberty Movement, there was a boy, Novak, who I grew close with. He had jet black hair, lovely brown eyes. I don't know if I considered myself _in love_ with him, but I really liked him. One night, it was cold and Pietro had gone out with the others while we stayed and cooked the food. We were kissing and it happened. It wasn't comfortable, but it was nice. He was arrested not long after that and I never saw him again."

Wanda bit on a strawberry and looked at the plate. Steve extended his hand across the table and put his hand on top of hers. Wanda looked up and laced her fingers with his. There was a faint but reassuring smile on his face and it made Wanda's heart melt.

"So… What happens next?" Steve asked.

"I know the circumstances are not the best, but we could have a go at a relationship. I have liked you for a while, and not just as a friend."

"Well, it's a start."

Wanda smiled brightly and squeezed his hand.

-o-

The only thing Natasha had told Steve to do is to meet her in a café on the River Seine. He had no idea what information she was going to provide him or whether she was asking to join Steve on the run. With his fake glasses and baseball cap disguising his appearance, he strolled in casually, ordered a coffee and sat in a booth. After five minutes, Natasha arrived, only Steve did not quite recognise her. Her hair was blonde for one thing but she had also put in brown contact lens.

"How was the trip?" she asked casually.

"Long, hot and I felt like a parent trying to keep Bucky and Sam from hitting one another," Steve answered plainly. "Nice hair."

"Thanks. How was the sex last night?"

For the second time that morning, Steve almost choked on his drink. "How-"

"You just seem different somehow, and I guessed you must have gotten laid."

"Not that it is any of your business Natasha, but it was good. More than good in fact. Anyway, why did you ask me to meet you?"

"I've had to go on the run, if you could not tell already from the hair. Ross knows I let you and Barnes get away in Germany. He accused me of decent and being a typical commie. Nice to know the spirit of Senator McCarthy lives on."

"So you dragged me to Paris because…"

"I know some people in London who could help us out. Ex-S.H.I.E.L.D agents, who have taken up letting some safe houses for other agents."

"So you want us to hide out in London?"

"It would not be difficult. If you, the two stooges and Wanda could get into France without being recognised, I am certain London should be no problem."

"You know I'll have to consult the rest of them."

"I know. I'll come with if it helps."

-o-

"Tell you what though, it'll be easier getting into England than it was getting into France," Sam pointed out. "But what are we going to do about visas and all that?"

"I got that covered," Natasha answered. "Agent Holstaff has created fake ID for all of you."

Natasha handed them all a passport with new names for them. All four of them looked at their new name and then looked back at Natasha.

"Larson Howlers?" Sam asked.

"Jeremy Brandt?" Bucky questioned.

Wanda was the next to ask, "Vanja Dragić?"

Finally, Steve enquired, "James McCawley?"

"Hey, if you want to try to get pass border control with your real names, be my guest," Natasha responded. "I say we leave in the morning. I have my hotel room three blocks away. I suggest we meet outside the The Gare du Nord at 0900 sharp. Make sure you have packed a bag. I have left four suitcases here for you. I'll see you tomorrow."

Once Natasha left, the four looked at one another.

"England?" Wanda asked sitting on the bed.

"How do we know that this is not a trick?" Sam asked logically.

"Natasha would find a way of letting us know if someone was trying to use her to get to us," Steve replied. "I don't know about you three but I think if we stay here too long, someone is going to get suspicious."

"Steve is right," Bucky imputed. "We're paying for a hotel and if we stay more than two nights we're going to get caught. At least we have a place to stay in London."

Once the debate had been settled, Bucky and Sam went to their room to pack. Wanda was in the middle of packing her clothes when Steve put his hand on her shoulder.

"You sure we know what we're doing?" she asked.

"I have to take it. You trust me right?"

"Of course I trust you, but like with everything we have to be careful. I don't know if after what happened I fully trust Natasha."

"I do. She let me and Bucky go to Siberia. It's going to be okay. I promise. Once we get into London, we'll be safe." Wanda put her last dress in and turned to Steve. She wrapped her arms around Steve's neck and kissed him softly. Once she pulled back, she smiled softly. "So what do we tell the others?"

"I say we keep it between us for a while, until we're both sure where this is going."

"Okay. Let's do that."


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Wanda smiled politely as the British passport controller examined Wanda's fake passport. The woman looked at the picture and then at Wanda before making a judgement that the passport was legitimate and that Wanda was free to go through the barrier. Steve, Sam, Bucky and Natasha had already been allowed into the country and were waiting by the coffee stand.

"I've never been so nervous," Wanda whispered as she joined the group.

"Right, we need to get a cab to Kensington and Chelsea. The safe house is there," Natasha instructed.

"Yes ma'am," Sam replied with a fake salute.

"She's so fully prepared. I don't know whether I should be scared of her or not," Bucky commented.

"You? Scared?" Sam mocked. "You shot her once."

"Twice," Natasha corrected.

"Sorry," Bucky apologised remorsefully.

The cab journey was silent. The last time Steve was in London was for Peggy's funeral and he still felt the pain of that day deep in his chest. He already hated Zemo, but he hated a lot more for not giving Steve the time to properly grieve for Peggy. Looking out the other window was Wanda, who had never been to England. Being a lover of literature, especially British literature, it kind of made her want to sight-see some famous locations.

Eventually, they arrived in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, where the cab stopped outside a posh-looking apartment block. Natasha rummaged in her bag and grabbed a set of keys, the first brass one opened the door to the block, while the second opened a door on the first floor. The apartment was spacious and had four bedrooms and a pull-out sofa in the living room that faced a small television. The place actually looked fully furnished, it was just deprived of ordainments.

"I think I should go out and get some stuff to make it look like a home," Wanda said.

"I'll come with you," Steve offered quickly. The other three looked at him, confused by his rapid offering. "I'm just thinking she's going to need help carrying the stuff back here."

"Fine, I'll go get some food. Wilson, Barnes, try not to kill each other while we're all gone," Natasha ordered.

-o-

"I think these things are older than you are," Wanda commented when she and Steve were looking around an antique shop.

Steve let out a dry laugh and held up a beige vase that looked to have a coral design on it, "What about this?"

"It looks… Ghastly."

"Well, _Vanja_ , what do you suggest?"

"What about this vase _James_?" Wanda replied holding up a terracotta coloured vase with flowers painted all over it.

"That's no better than my suggestion."

"Yeah, but mine looks prettier."

Steve smiled and put the vase down. Wanda gave him the vase she chosen and they continued looking around. They paid for the items they had picked and left the shop, only there was a second-hand book shop next door. Without even consulting Steve, she immediately went in. Steve followed her and Wanda was looking at one of the shelves that contained dusty old classic books. Everything from Austin to Woolf was on that shelf, and they were not fancy copies, they looked to be pretty old editions.

"They probably cost a fortune," Wanda commented as she stroked the leather spine of a copy of _Pride and Prejudice_. "They look to be at least third editions."

"Yeah… You want to buy it?"

"Not now. Before we went on the run, I was reading _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_. I was going to see if there was a reasonable copy in here so I can finish the series. I never got quite round to reading beyond _The Chamber of Secrets_ when I was younger, for obvious reasons."

Wanda looked in the young adult section of the bookshop and found an old boxset of all seven _Harry Potter_ books, and for a reasonable price of fifteen pounds. Wanda smiled and grabbed the set. Steve could not help but hand her the credit card.

"You don't mind if I read them right after you?" he asked.

"You haven't read them?"

"Wanda, I woke up a year after the films were finished. I have been trying to catch up on a lot of stuff. I only just finished the _Rocky_ films."

"So you have not seen the films then?"

"No, I wanted to read the books before I delve in."

"Good idea."

Steve looked at the book titles, and squinted at the first book, "I thought it was _The Sorcerer's Stone_."

Wanda tried not to laugh, "Only in America."

-o-

When Wanda and Steve arrived home, they found Sam cutting up three straws, two long and one short one. Steve looked confused and had to ask, "What are you doing?"

"Well, Natasha said that she and Wanda are getting two of the bedrooms, so us guys have to draw straws to see who gets the other two," Sam answered. Bucky rolled his eyes when Sam held his fist out with the straws all level. "Well, pick one." Bucky pulled out one straw, while Steve picked another. The straws looked to be the same length, so Sam flipped the remaining straw which was an inch shorter than the other two. "Damn it."

Wanda chuckled and asked, "Which room is mine then?"

"Second on the right," Bucky answered. "Steve, yours is the first on the left."

"Thanks Buck. Sam, you going to be alright on the couch?" Steve questioned.

"Yeah," Sam grumbled.

Later that night, Wanda had gotten through the first eight chapters of _Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban_ when the door knocked. She put the bookmark in the page and put the book on her bedside table.

"Wanda you awake?" Natasha asked through the door.

"Yes," Wanda replied. Natasha walked in with two cups of camomile tea and handed one to Wanda. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, just checking if you like your room."

"It's nice. We should really thank Agent Holstaff for setting this up for us."

"So… How was your night with Steve?" Wanda blinked. "I could sense something had happened between you. He seemed really eager to go with you to the stores."

"It was… It was good. Very good. No. It was fantastic."

"I knew he was a demon in the sack. That good little Catholic boy look can't fool me. So what are you two then? Dating? Fuck buddies?"

"We don't know yet. I've had a crush on him for a while, but my feelings are still rather confused."

"When did you get a crush on him?"

Wanda thought back. Around Christmas, Steve had been the first person to buy her a Christmas present. It was a red cashmere scarf and she loved it so much she did not take it off until the middle of April. Before that he had been so generous and kind to her, and often during their one-to-one training sessions she would find herself blushing.

"I don't know exactly when, but it was a while back."

"Well, I hope you know what you two are doing. In this situation, it could get dangerous."

Wanda nodded and sipped her tea. Later that night, once she was certain that the others were asleep, Wanda tip-toped quietly to Steve's room. Gently she knocked and opened the door. Steve was awake, almost as though he was expecting her. She locked the door and went over to the bed and kissed him.

"God, I have been wanting to do this all day," she whispered against his lips.

"I know. I know baby."

The term of endearment should have bothered her, given that she was far younger than him, but coming from his lips it did not sound remotely patronising. Steve's hands grabbed the soft pillows of her chest and massaged them through the red nightgown. Wanda hissed as he pinched her nipples and proceeded to bite his lip. Steve pulled down the straps of the gown, which exposed her breasts to the air and he took one of the nipples into his mouth, laving it up with his tongue.

"God, you are so beautiful," he commented. Wanda kissed him again, and her hand went between them as she fondled his growing erection through his boxers. Steve moaned softly, before he ordered, "Lie on your side away from me."

Looking confused, Wanda pulled down the rest of the gown, showing that she had forgone panties and Steve licked his lips at the sight of her brown curls. Wanda lay on her side facing away from him, only she understood what he wanted to do when he pressed his now-free erection against her bottom. With one hand he grabbed her breast while the other snaked around her waist to rest on her stomach. Wanda parted her legs slightly so one was resting on Steve's thigh and while it took him a couple moments to find her entrance, he finally slid in with one smooth motion.

Wanda's breath hitched as Steve began to fuck her from behind. He was so gentle, yet rough at the same time. The hand that was on her stomach trailed between her legs and began to stroke her clitoris.

"Oh my- Steve."

Steve began sucking at her earlobe as the hand on her breast fondled it harder and the speed of his hips picked up, and he was struggling not to lose control since he was going in from just the right angle for the both of them.

Wanda squeezed her eyes shut and Steve could sense she was close. He stopped nibbling on her earlobe and whispered huskily, "Come on Wanda, come for me."

With a strangled gasp, Wanda came. Steve put his hand on her hip and fucked her until he spurted inside her. Both were hot and sticky, but neither cared as they lay contented in the crumpled sheets and each other's arms.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

For the best part of a month, the routine was that as soon as Sam, Bucky and Natasha were asleep, Wanda would slip out of bed and go to Steve's room where they would make love secretly and then when dawn broke, Wanda would sneak back into her room. Natasha was the only person aware of the affair, and it was not as though Steve and Wanda were subtle. They were still fairly quiet while having sex, save a moment when Steve had made a particularly dextrous move and Wanda had moaned loudly. Either Sam and Bucky knew by now and were just waiting for Steve and Wanda to tell them, or they really were oblivious.

In addition, they had managed to paint the apartment, only rather than going for a conventional theme, they just painted it any colour they wished. While the lounge was painted blue at Sam's request, the overlooking kitchen was bright orange and the hallway was purple. Wanda had painted her room grey, Steve had elected for a navy blue, Bucky was fine with the white walls that were there before and Natasha had elected for red. Finally, their safe house felt like a home.

One morning, Wanda woke up in Steve's arms, glanced over to the clock on the bedside table and began to slip out of bed. Steve stirred and pulled her tighter to her, moaning softly, "Don't."

"I have to. It's dawn," Wanda replied quietly.

"What if we tell them? That way you don't have to sneak out every morning."

"You sure you want to tell them?"

"If it means stopping all this sneaking around. I would like to snuggle with you on the couch without it being seen as strange."

"Okay, we'll tell them tonight."

Wanda sealed the deal with a kiss, got out the bed and put on her dressing gown. Wanda kissed Steve again and slipped out the bedroom door. She smiled softly as she padded to her room. However, she nearly screamed when she saw Natasha sitting on the bed.

"Fun night?" she asked.

"What the hell Natasha?"

"I think we should have a girls' day. Not to do shopping but to sit in a pub and drink to our hearts content."

"Why?"

"Because I do fancy some female company occasionally."

Wanda rolled her eyes but eventually nodded. After she dressed, put make up on, put on the fake glasses and tied her hair back, she was ready to leave. Her hair was getting incredibly long and heavy and it would need cutting soon as all she could do was tie it back in a bun, a plat or a ponytail.

Wanda thought about this as she and Natasha walked towards a pub. On the way, Wanda passed a salon and looked through the window and saw the sign 'Drop-in Appointments Welcome'. She looked to Natasha and went in.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Natasha asked following her.

"I need to chop this off," Wanda explained holding her hair up. "It's getting too long."

"Your hair is fine."

"If I leave it out, I look like I am being drowned so all I can do it tie it back. I don't want it so short, but I want it to be at least manageable."

"Okay, I suppose I need to top up on this bleaching anyway. My roots are starting to show." While the hairdresser was combing through Wanda's hair to level the ends of her up, Natasha asked, "So how is it all going?"

"Fine. We were planning on telling the guys later."

"How do you think they'll react?"

"Well, I hope."

"So you know what you two are yet?"

"I still don't know. We've not really gone on a date. At the moment, we're basically just sleeping together."

"Well, why don't I cover for you two tonight while you two go to dinner?"

"You would really do that?"

"Absolutely."

-o-

After their hair was done, Wanda and Natasha forwent the pub and went shopping. Natasha had picked out a couple of dresses for Wanda to try on. The first one was a red silk dress that Wanda liked but it did not feel particularly sexy. On the other hand, the second black dress had lace around her waist, a slight plunging cleavage and a skirt that was just short enough to give Steve a view of her legs. She had also gotten a pair of red heels.

She had text Steve to tell him to wear something nice and he had replied rather confused. He got his answered when he knocked on her door while she was in the middle of getting ready. She was already dressed and was just styling her hair. Steve's breath was taken away.

"God you look…"

Wanda smiled brightly, "You like the hair?"

Steve had only just noticed that Wanda had cut her hair so it was just to the top of her breasts. He had to admit he would miss her long hair. Sometimes when they made love, her hair would rest just over her bare breasts and it looked so erotic as she moved on top of him. However, her hair looked gorgeous and she seemed less drowned.

"I really like it."

"So, the reason for this is because we're going out to dinner. Natasha is dragging Sam and Bucky to the cinema."

Later, when the other three left, Steve came out his room in a blue shirt and dark jeans. Wanda smiled and leaned up to kiss him. Steve took her hand and they left the apartment together. They got a cab to a nearby Italian restaurant and got a booth to themselves. Steve had put on his fake glasses, which seem to be the equivalent of an invisibility cloak as the waiter did not even recognise him. Wanda sat pretty close to Steve and ran her hand along his thigh.

"You know it feels nice to do this," Wanda commented. "Actually have a date. Not that I don't enjoy the sex, it's just that it's nice to do something different."

"I know. Tell you what though, you really have relaxed since we came to London," Steve replied.

"I can't say that worry is not at the back of my mind. What happened on the Raft is probably going to scar me for a while, if not for life."

Steve knew this. During the first few nights in Wakanda, Wanda suffered horrific nightmares and could barely talk, partly due to the shock and the pressure of her windpipe. She was better at the moment but there were still moments where she would stare into space and her eyes would see the foot of the guards. Steve put his hand over hers and squeezed it. Wanda smiled and gently kissed the corner of his mouth. Steve leaned in and pressed his lips against hers.

A cough broke them apart and Wanda looked at the waiter holding a small pad. "Can I get you some drinks?"

"Um… Bottle of red wine please," Steve replied.

"Red?" Wanda asked.

"Goes well with pasta." Wanda chuckled as the waiter left. He soon returned with two glasses and a bottle red wine. Steve poured the glasses and Wanda took her glass to taste it. She squirmed a bit. She still was not accustomed to the taste of strong alcohol, despite the fact she was drinking far more regularly in the compound, however, it was not often red wine. "Not nice?"

"It's nice, it's just a bit strong and heavy. It tastes nice though." Wanda tried to hold back a laugh.

"What?"

"You have my lipstick around your lips."

"Oh," Steve grabbed the napkin to wipe his mouth.

"It's fine. You look quite cute like that."

"Cute. I haven't heard that one in a while."

"You were called cute?"

"You have never seen me before I became this. I was smaller than you were, not just height but weight as well. Bucky tried to set me up with women, but whenever they saw me I got two responses. Either they would call me cute or adorable, or they would just ignore me."

"How could anyone ignore you?"

"When you're ninety pounds, it is pretty easy."

"True. When you're on the streets you become invisible. No one cares, but then again, everyone in Sokovia had their own problems to think about anyone else's."

Steve cupped the side of her face and stroked her cheek. Wanda leaned in to kiss him and this time she slipped her tongue into his mouth, moaning at the faint taste of wine on his lips. There was a fire within her stomach and part of her wanted to rip Steve's clothes off and take him right there and then. Only she remembered where she was and pulled away.

"Maybe we should eat something," she whispered.

"Okay," Steve replied kissing her on the nose.

-o-

By the time they arrived home, both were riled up and as soon as they had gotten through the front door, Steve pressed Wanda against the wall and began kissing her neck. Wanda moaned softly as his lips caressed her jawline and then her lips. Her hands finally sprang into action and she began to unbutton Steve's shirt. Her fingers stroked along his abdominal muscles and Steve started to lift her up from the bottom of her thighs so her legs were wrapped around his waist. Just as Wanda worked the button and zip of Steve's jeans, the door handle started rattling and then opened.

"All I am saying is that if I wanted to watch a romantic comedy, I would do it with the prospect of – Ah!" Sam exclaimed when he saw Wanda and Steve in their compromising position. Bucky just looked stunned while Natasha tried to hold back a laugh, albeit unsuccessfully. "What the hell…"

Wanda unwrapped her legs from around Steve's waist and tried to straighten herself up. Steve quickly buttoned his jeans up. Both looked sheepish and looked to one another to see who would confess first.

"Okay, here it is," Steve began. "Wanda and I… We're kind of a thing. It happened when we were in Paris."

"So you've been doing it for over a month?" Bucky asked.

"Yes," Wanda replied. "We would have told you sooner, but we weren't too sure what this was yet."

Wanda immediately took Steve's hand and squeezed it. Steve smiled at her softly.

"Well. Congratulations, I guess," Sam commented. Wanda breathed a sigh of relief that everyone seemed okay with the new development. "So since you two are together, can I get Steve's room?"


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Summer was finally drawing to a close, though the warm weather was not desisting as September rolled around. Sam had moved into Steve's room while Steve had begun sleeping with Wanda fulltime. It was actually a relief that neither of them had to sneak out first thing and could wake up in each other's arms without worrying about their friends finding out. However, while Natasha and Sam seemed happy for them, Steve was worried that Bucky was unsure what Steve's relationship with Wanda meant for his friendship with Steve. He had seemed very quiet since their confession, and it was not only Steve who had picked up on it. Wanda liked Bucky and understood how important he was to Steve, but even under the circumstances they had not really interacted.

"Maybe I should talk to him," she suggested as she threw on a cotton grey dress on morning.

"You sure about that Wanda? I think he would prefer hearing it from me."

"I know, but I want him to know that I am not planning on taking you away from him."

"I don't think he believes you are."

"Listen, I'll take him out for lunch. I'll talk to him." Wanda smiled and gave Steve a quick kiss on the lips. "It's going to be fine, I promise."

-o-

Bucky glanced at the menu in front of him, trying to work out what he wanted. In the end he ordered an apple pie and the waitress smiled at him. Wanda observed this quick glance and gave a coy smile as the waitress left to get their orders.

"I think she likes you," Wanda commented.

"Maybe," Bucky replied. "Is there any reason you and I are having lunch?"

"It's just that you seem to be very quiet, especially since Steve and I told you about us."

"I am happy for you two."

"But?"

"There is no but. It's strange for me seeing Steve in a relationship. I know he had a thing with Agent Carter, but other than that my memories of his interactions are limited at best."

"Is that you putting it delicately?" Wanda commented with a small smile. "I do really care about him, and I don't plan on hurting him. Even if it is my fault we're all in this situation. The Sokovia Accords, they were because of me. If I had not messed with Tony's head, there would be no Accords and we would not be hiding."

"You don't think that Zemo would not have found another way to rip the Avengers apart?"

"He only did it because his family died in the Battle of Sokovia."

"So did your brother, but you did not turn into a sociopath."

"Point taken."

"Look, regardless of whether Zemo was involved or not, the truth about what really happened to Howard Stark would have come out, and Steve would side with me."

Wanda nodded, understanding Bucky's point, but still felt as though their current circumstances were mostly her fault.

-o-

Steve awoke suddenly to the feeling of Wanda's hot and wet mouth around his cock. Once the shock wore off, he groaned, "Morning."

Wanda sucked and licked until he was throbbing and hard in her mouth. With her hand wrapped around the base of his dick, she pulled away and moved up to kiss Steve on the lips. Steve rolled her over so she was on her back.

Gently, he pushed himself into her and Wanda moaned deeply. He was still in the clutches of sleep so his thrusts were lazy, but due to his strength, the sensations were not lacking. Wanda gripped one of Steve's bum cheeks, giving it a small squeeze. Her fingers laced through his hair as he kissed her hard. His hands laced with hers and his thrusts became more urgent.

"God Wanda," he whispered into her shoulder. He could feel the sensations pulsing through his spine. From the way her gasps were forming, he could sense Wanda was close. He grabbed her thigh and lifted it so her legs were hooked over his shoulders and he was penetrating from the most delicious angle.

It took a lot for Wanda to not scream as he rubbed her g-spot and the tight feeling in her stomach released and gushed along his dick, and her legs fell to the side. Once she came to her senses, she felt Steve collapse on top of her, his weight almost crushing her and he was breathing heavily. Gently she pushed him to the side.

"That was…" Wanda breathed.

"I know," Steve replied, his hand resting on her stomach. The air smelt of the clinging stench of sex and it was ever so hot. It was only a morning quickie, yet both felt as though they had run a marathon. Wanda especially had no feeling in her legs.

"Where did you learn that trick?"

"A couple of Christmases ago, Natasha got me _Sex for Dummies_ as a joke."

"Who's laughing now."

Wanda and Steve broke out into quiet laughter. Steve leaned over and softly kissed her. As he pulled away he whispered, "I love you."

"What?" Wanda asked slightly stunned.

"I said I love you Wanda Maximoff."

"I heard what you said, I was just surprised to hear it. You love me?"

"Yeah, of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

Wanda could think up about fifty reasons, yet those fifty reasons could just as easily apply to Steve. Eventually, she gave a small smile, but gave no response.

-o-

"So you told her you love her and she freaks out?" Sam asked once Steve had told him of his problem in a bar.

"Yep," Steve replied plainly. "Maybe I made a mistake."

"I don't think you did," Bucky imputed. "One of you had to say it eventually."

"I doubt it would be her though."

"Hey, don't doubt her. She's probably not as used to hearing the words," Sam said. "The last time she probably heard those words were from her brother."

"True. Maybe I am just overreacting."

"You are," both men replied and sipped their beers.

"So what should I do?"

"You can't force her," Sam began.

"You have to give her time," Bucky added.

"Thanks guys, you've been a real help."

-o-

"I feel really bad about it," Wanda told Natasha as Natasha her poured a second glass of wine. "He poured his heart out and I must have crushed it within a second."

"Hey, you were surprised. If Banner had said that to me, I probably would have had the same response," Natasha replied sipping the white drink.

"The thing is Nat, I know how I feel about Steve, but I have no way of being able to say it." Wanda took a big gulp of the wine and grimaced slightly. "What do I do?"

"I say we go out drinking."

"Is alcohol your solution to everything?"

"You forget that I am Russian," Natasha replied with a Russian accent. It just slipped off her tongue like she had spoken it her whole life.

While Wanda got changed, she wondered how much did Natasha remember of her life before the Red Room. There was something horrifying about the idea of a young child being snatched and being trained to kill people. Once they were in the nightclub, Wanda dared to ask the question. Natasha raised her eyebrows and put her drink down.

"I don't remember much. I don't even know my birth name," Natasha recounted. When I was brought to S.H.I.E.L.D, Clint told me there was no Natalia Romanova born in 1984, and the Soviet Union being what it was, half the families at least had one Natalia. All the girls were renamed after some sort of European royal family. We had Windsor, Hanover, even Orange-Nassau. Trust me to be named after the family the Bolsheviks got rid of"

"It's funny. Maximoff is only a recent name in my family history," Wanda confessed. "Originally, it was Maximova. My great grandfather was Russian but he moved his family to Germany to escape the pogroms, and he had to change his name to Maximoff to sound less Slavic, which during the 1930s you could understand why, not that it completely helped. My father was German, but then he moved to Yugoslavia and he never looked back. He met my mother obviously. She was a Roma."

"I think I do remember something, but I am not entirely sure if it is a memory, but I remember black bread. Not burnt-"

"I know what you mean. It was my grandmother's old recipe my mother used to bake."

"But I think my mother used to bake it."

"Did you ever think about trying to find her."

"Where would I start? Russia is a big place."

"True." Wanda raised her glass and Natasha clinked it. "Na zdravje."

"Vashee zdaróvye."

-o-

It was two in the morning before Wanda and Natasha came stumbling back home, laughing and with food. None of the men seemed awake, and even though they were trying to be quiet, neither women were successful in doing so. It was a failure the second they opened the door and the wood smashed against the wall hard.

"Shit," Wanda whispered loudly.

"Quiet, you'll wake them up," Natasha whispered even louder.

Wanda began giggling as she wobbled into the living room. As she ate her chips, she tripped over her own feet and fell onto the floor, knocking over the table and lamp. The crash must have woken Steve up as he came running in to check if Wanda was seriously hurt.

"Oops," was all Wanda could say.

"Wanda you okay?" Steve asked as he moved to help her up.

"I'm absolutely fine. Natasha and I had a great night. We drank tequila. We drank Jägermeister. The first one tasted quite gross but the second-" Wanda suddenly felt her stomach in her throat and she immediately made a dash for the bathroom.

Natasha could only smile and pat Steve on the shoulder as she walked to her room. Steve shook his head, picked the paper bag up, put it on the side and went to the bathroom where Wanda was heaving into the toilet basin. Steve could tell she had drank Jägermeister. He quickly pulled a glass out the cupboard and filled it with cold water. Once he was sure Wanda had stopped throwing up, he handed her the glass.

"Drink it slowly. You feel better?" he asked.

"I don't know. I still feel very dizzy," she replied. "Huh. There's two of you."

"Okay, let's get you to bed." Steve lifted her up onto her feet and guided her back to their room. Wanda then collapsed face first into the bed, still fully dressed. Steve at least took off her heels and moved her over to her side of the bed. "Sleep now."

"Hmm… Steve," she murmured. "I love you too."

Steve smiled softly and pulled the blanket over them as he lay down beside her. He gave a gentle kiss in her cheek and soon both were in a slumber.


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

"I've made a decision," Natasha announced as everyone was gathered over Chinese takeout. "I'm going to Russia."

"Why?" Sam asked stuffing a pork ball into his mouth.

"I need to find out who I am. I think need to find the girl before the assassin."

"You don't have to do it alone," Wanda said.

"I know. I'm going to need your help breaking into the Kremlin."

At that point, everyone but Natasha dropped their fork. Steve was the first to vocalise, "You want us to break into the Russian government building? While we're supposed to be in hiding?"

"It sounds crazy, but if to find out who I am, I need to go to the source."

"But the Kremlin?" Sam asked.

"You know if anyone could break into the Kremlin, it would be us five," Bucky pointed. "It's not as though none of us can speak Russian."

While Bucky had a point, Wanda still thought it was like going into the lions' den. The Kremlin may not be on the best diplomatic terms with the United States, but even they would be on high alert for two of their former assassins and three fugitives of the law. Then again, Natasha had a point; going straight to the source was better than anything else that could be thought of.

"Okay, I'm in, but we need to be careful. It's the same as breaking into Gringotts," Wanda said. Steve looked at her and she knew that he was going to come now she was involved.

Eventually Sam sighed, "What are we going to do?"

"Well, this is a S.H.I.E.L.D safe house; they had to store some old tech somewhere," Natasha pointed out.

"Where exactly?" Steve asked.

"You know that cupboard that is off-limits?" After they finished eating, Natasha got to work on unlocking the cupboard door. "Wanda can I borrow your hairpin?"

Wanda took the pin out the front of her hair, handed it to Natasha and asked, "You sure Agent Holstaff can be outsmarted by a hairpin?"

At that point the lock on the door clinked and Natasha gave Wanda a look. The door opened and they looked at the hoard in the cupboard. Natasha and Steve had a look through the equipment, picking the ones that seemed the most useful to the mission.

"Okay, we have two Photostatic Veils, tasers, some grenades, and a laptop with the S.H.I.E.L.D system," Steve told. "Do you think this is going to be enough?"

"Well, we can work around this," Natasha said. "The veils will be especially helpful in getting in."

"Question is who do we impersonate?" Wanda asked.

"I still think this idea is insane," Sam commented.

"Well, you can be on look-out duty," Bucky suggested patting Sam on the shoulder.

-o-

"You sure this is a good idea?" Wanda asked as she walked slowly beside Natasha. Both women were staring at the red building in front of them.

"Too late to back out now," Natasha said. For the first time, Wanda detected some sign of apprehension in her friend's voice. "You ready?"

Wanda took a deep breath and nodded. They walked through the front door. They clutched the identity cards that were stolen from the Russian politicians who Wanda and Natasha were impersonating. Wanda went first in handing the identification to the security guard. Since she spoke little Russian, the best she could reply was, "Good morning."

The guard scanned the card and nodded as he handed it back. Natasha was next and more talkative. Her card was then accepted and was handed back within seconds. Both women nodded and began to walk through the corridors.

"Okay, do you know where we're going?" Wanda asked.

"Just about. KGB secrets will probably be kept somewhere downstairs in a vault. It won't be on some super-computer. It'll all be hard copies," Natasha answered. Both managed to walk to the elevator and pressed the down button. "How are we doing outside?"

" _Looks pretty clear. Do you know exactly what we're looking for?_ " Sam asked over the coms.

"It'll be a file."

"Do we plan on stealing it?" Wanda asked.

"Of course."

" _Nat, you're playing with dangerous territory here_ ," Steve warned.

"It's fine. I have a plan."

Once they were on their floor, Wanda and Natasha walked casually towards one of the vault doors. Natasha punched in a code based on a guess and the door opened for them. Wanda looked around and took a deep breath as she and Natasha walked into the vault.

"This place is huge," Wanda commented. "Where would we even start?"

"L. The Red Room belonged to an organisation called Leviathan. When I 'graduated' the Red Room, I worked for Leviathan until Barton recruited me to S.H.I.E.L.D. You go left, I'll go right.". Wanda nodded and began looking at the letters on the cabinet draws. However, they were all in the Russian alphabet and she did not know what the Russian equivalent of L was. After a moment, Natasha called, "Over here."

Wanda walked over to Natasha where Natasha had picked up a file. She quickly skimmed the file to see if it was the one she was looking for, and given how hefty it was, Wanda was sure that there had to be something about Natasha in there.

"How are we going to get that out?" Wanda asked.

"This briefcase should do the trick," Natasha replied opening up the leather briefcase and sticking in the file. "Okay. Let's go."

Quickly, the two walked out the vault, closed the door and made their way upstairs and out the building to the parked car where the men were waiting.

"You got it?" Bucky asked.

"Yep, let's get out of here," Natasha replied.

-o-

By the time they got back to London, everyone was exhausted and immediately went to bed. Something was telling Steve that stealing that file was far too easy but any doubt was silenced by his desire to sleep. The next morning, over breakfast, everyone looked at the file in silence. Now they had the information, it was a question of what they could do with it. The Russian government was going to find out sooner or later that the file had gone missing and given Natasha's reputation, it could be traced back to them easy enough.

"What are we going to do to the file once we are done with it?" Steve asked.

"We burn it," Natasha answered. "Leviathan were taken down not long after I defected."

"By you?" Sam asked shifting away from her slightly.

"No." Natasha made a quick glance at Bucky and it was that glance that confirmed the fate of Leviathan. Not that Bucky remembered doing the act but the guilt in his eyes was clear. "No need to feel guilty about this one Barnes; they had it coming."

After the plates were put in the sink, they began to look through the file. It was organised and through with details from the 1940s. They uncovered a mission to steal Stark Industries weapons that had been thwarted by the Strategic Scientific Reserve. However, the missions were not the main interest to the group. They went through the list of students of the Red Room Academy post-1985 and their photographs. They looked to be at least five years old when they were first recruited.

"This is sick," Sam commented. "Who trains five-year-old girls to be killers?"

"Easy to indoctrinate and control," Steve replied.

"Does not make it any better," Wanda replied.

Eventually, they came across Natalia Alianovna Romanova. Her real name was Natalia, but her surname was Vasiliev, and she was born in Volgograd. She had been snatched from the street as a four-year-old. Natasha read the information carefully, nodded and then left the flat.

"Give her a minute. It was a lot to take in," Steve instructed. Wanda got an idea and she grabbed the laptop. "What are you doing?"

"There must be a newspaper article about this? A four-year-old girl does not get taken and go unreported," Wanda answered.

-o-

Wanda left it a couple hours before going to find Natasha. The flat had a roof that they could sit on and relax and Natasha was sitting in one of the chairs. From the red blotches on her face, Wanda could tell she had been crying.

"I have something for you," Wanda said quietly. "I looked you up on the internet and found a ton of newspaper articles from 1988 to 1991 about you. You were national news. Your mother was distraught." Wanda offered the papers to Natasha. Natasha looked up a moment and took the papers. She looked through the papers. They had the same image of a bright, smiling red-headed girl and a woman, also with red hair crying. "You look a lot like her. I don't think she ever stopped trying to find you. Those were just a sample."

"If I were her and had not seen my daughter for twenty-eight years, I would have accepted she may be dead by now."

"What do you want to do now?"

"I don't know. I can't exactly go strolling back into Volgograd and say 'hi Mom, long time no see'. And even if I did, she would look at me with shame."

Wanda sat down in the chair opposite. "You need to stop blaming yourself for what other people did to you. You were four years old Natasha. They stole your life from you, along with many other young girls, and you were right when you said that they deserved what The Winter Soldier did to them."

"It does not wipe out what I have done though. Would your mother be proud if you had burned down a hospital and killed a girl barely younger than yourself?"

"Of course not. It's a hard decision, but you never know. I don't think my parents would be happy – in fact they probably would be rolling in their graves if they knew that Pietro and I had volunteered for HYDRA."

"You did not know it was HYDRA though."

"Does not make me feel good about it."

"There you go; you know how I feel."

"Um…" Sam began as he walked onto the roof, "I think you need to see this."

The women followed him down where Steve and Bucky were staring at the television as the lunchtime news was playing the news report of a break-in at the Kremlin, however the Russian government had no indication as to who could have done it.

"They'll work it out. Trust me," Natasha commented.

"I don't think they will. They have no evidence," Bucky replied.

"They might. You never know," Steve expressed rather concerned about this development.

"To be fair, they never said that it was a file that had been stolen," Wanda pointed out.

"What other break-ins could there have been?" Sam asked.

All five looked at one another and all seemed to make a silent agreement that they burn the file as soon as they can. Up on the roof, Steve and Sam lit a fire in a bin and Natasha threw the file into the fire. It did not make her feel relieved, nor did it give her peace of mind. At best, she was being complicit in the hiding one of the Soviet Union's darkest secrets.


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

After two weeks, the group seemed more relaxed that the Russian government were not going to be able to trace them. The news had died down for one thing. While they knew that they would be still searching for who had stolen the file, the Russian government had not received a threat so probably were not too concerned about the file being revealed, and considering that the file no longer existed they had nothing to worry about.

Wanda and Steve in the meantime seemed very happy in their little bubble. They were extremely comfortable in snuggling together on the couch, go on dates and kiss in public. Even though there was a cloud that overshadowed them, for once they actually felt as though life was going their way. They had found a place of safety and happiness that they could only have dreamed about in the most trying of times.

Yet, it was not meant to be.

"We're out of milk," Natasha stated one morning looking in the fridge.

"You could always eat your cereal dry," Sam responded. In other words, he was not getting the milk.

Wanda rolled her eyes and got up, "I'll get it."

She grabbed her bag and keys from the side and left the flat. There was a convenience shop on the corner so it was just a case of nipping in and out. However, the simple journey took and unexpected turn. Just as she grabbed the milk from the fridge, there was shouting coming from the counter.

"GIVE ME YOUR MONEY NOW!"

Wanda peaked around the corner of the shelf. There were two robbers holding knives up while the clearly terrified Pakistani shopkeeper opened the till to give the robbers the money. The second robber turned to her and walked over to her, knife pointed directly at her chest. Wanda's heart began pounding and a warmth developed in her hand. The robber glance down as Wanda's hand filled with red mist.

"YOU-" Before the robber could announce who she was, Wanda blasted him and the other robber towards a shelf on the opposite side. She dropped the carton of milk and stared at the shopkeeper.

"Call the police," was all Wanda could say before she ran out. She did not stop running until she reached the apartment and into her bedroom. Inside she raked her fingers through her hair and struggled to breathe as she tried to sort through her thoughts and process what just happened.

All of a sudden there was a knock on the door and Wanda jumped, "Wanda? You okay?" It was Steve and once she gained some composure, she opened the door and pulled Steve into the room. "Whoa, what happened?"

"Um… So men came into rob the shop, one of them pointed a knife at me and the next thing I know, they're on the other side of the shop," Wanda explained in a rush. "I think I may have exposed myself." Wanda waited for Steve to respond, but he was silent. "Are you angry at me?"

Rather than speaking, Steve pulled her into a hug. "I'm not angry. I'm just glad you're not hurt."

"I never meant to, it's just that I got scared and I guess it was some sort of defence mechanism inside me that set my powers off. You know they are emotive based."

"I know. It's not your fault."

"But I've just revealed where we are. We're going to have to go on the run again, and it's my fault. It's always my fault."

Steve took a deep breath and whispered, "It's going to be okay, I will come up with something."

-o-

"I can't believe we're running again," Sam grumbled as he took his seat on the train.

"We're not running," Steve retorted. "We're just going out of town until the police and the intelligence agencies stop looking around the area for any sign of us."

"But Yorkshire?"

"It's far away enough."

Steve looked over at the other table where Wanda was sitting and staring out the window as the train began to move. He had to wonder if she was still in shock after the incident that morning since she had gone quiet. She had a copy of _Wuthering Heights_ on the table, yet had not dared to pick it up until they reached the third station. Steve went over and sat next to her.

"It's not always your fault Wanda," he said quietly.

"The reason I have no country and no brother anymore is because of me. The reason the Accords were made were because of me. The reason we now have to hide again is because of me. You're all better off without me," she lamented.

"Wanda listen to me, you have saved many people. In Lagos, if you had not floated Rumlow from the ground, far more people would have died. In Sokovia, you helped get over a million people to safety. You remember what I said to you? We try to save as many people as we can, but it can't be everyone."

"Yeah, but you're not the one that is branded dangerous all over the news. Now there is going to be CCTV footage of me all over the news."

"Even if it is, they will clearly see you were defending yourself and that shopkeeper."

"It's funny. When you were in Germany, Vision and I were having a conversation and I was going to the store when he stopped me, saying that Stark wanted to prevent an incident." Wanda lay her head on his shoulder. "You know when you said you loved me, I thought of fifty reasons as to why you shouldn't. I'm messed up. I'm damaged goods."

"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly mint condition babe."

"I know, I thought of that."

She smiled softly as Steve pressed a kiss to her head. "I do love you Wanda. Broken or not."

-o-

Eventually, they arrived in Yorkshire and at their manor house style hotel that resided not far from the moors. Given the time of night, they were keen to go to sleep. However, Wanda was far too entranced in the world of Emily Bronte, she could not sleep. She had to admit, most of the characters were deplorable, yet she kept wanting to know more about what was going to happen to Cathy and Heathcliff. It was strange because the romance between Cathy and Heathcliff was toxic at best, yet she was so engrossed in the drama of it all.

The next morning, Wanda and Steve decided to explore the moors. Now that autumn had arrived, the weather was becoming chilly, so Wanda made sure she pulled on some tights and Steve wore a scarf. Wanda took in the fresh country air of the moors. It smelt so different to the air she was used to, and she actually loved it. Steve laced his fingers with Wanda and helped her climb up the hills.

Wanda had a slight glow on her cheek due to the chill in the air and it made her look really adorable. Steve on the other hand was very warm so she moved closer so his arm around her. Steve pressed a kiss to her nose.

"I never knew that the moors were so vast," Steve commented.

"Well, whenever I have read descriptions of it, it always seems to be this vast haunting area of land," Wanda replied. She then suddenly stopped. Steve stopped beside her and furrowed his brow in confusion when he saw her staring at a tree.

"Something interesting about that tree?" he asked.

"Nothing, it just looks like the one described in _Wuthering Heights_."

"You are getting way too obsessed with that book."

"It was just an observation." Wanda kissed him on the cheek and then on the lips. "You look so cute when you are confused."

Steve kissed her again and gently pushed her against the tree. Wanda moaned softly then muttered something under her breath, only Steve did not quite catch it because it was not in English. She shuffled slightly and pulled down her tights and panties in the process.

"You want to – here?" Steve asked looking rather astounded.

"Do you have a better idea on how to waste an hour?" She pushed off his jacket and began to work her hands under his t-shirt.

"It's just that we're a bit exposed out here."

"I think we'll be okay."

She shrugged off her jacket and unbuttoned the top of her dress so that she could slip the top down and exposed her bra-covered breasts to the air. She wrapped her arms around Steve's neck and kissed him. Steve groaned and gave in. He detached his lips and began kissing down her body, sucking on the pale flesh of her breasts before he was sitting on his knees and moved his head under her dress.

Wanda flinched when his tongue touched her centre. She lifted her leg up and hooked it over his shoulder, bracing one hand against the trunk of the tree, while the other rested on Steve's head. Wanda bit her lip as Steve licked her, circling her entrance and flicking the underside of her clitoris.

"That's it," she breathed. She could not see his head as it was covered by the black material of her dress so it made for a quite amusing sight. Underneath the cloth, Steve's nose was being tickled by her brown curls and was inhaling the scent that had intoxicated him the first time he had gone down on her. That mix of sweet spice that was purely hers. His one hand was cupping her buttocks – another part of her body he had grown to love and feel – while the other rubbed her entrance.

Just as his lips closed around her clit, he slid a finger inside her, waited for her to adjust to it before sliding another in. He smiled against her as Wanda gasped his name. His own arousal was throbbing and he unbuttoned his jeans to alleviate some of the pressure against his undoubtedly hard cock.

Wanda was making tiny noises, and her ragged breath informed him that she was close. "Steve," she whimpered.

Steve pulled away for just one moment, enough to order, "Come on baby, come for me."

One final sweep of the tongue on her clit and her hips buckled, and he held her tight. Wanda breathed heavily as she looked down. She said, "I can't see you."

Steve chuckled, "Then lift your dress up then."

"Oh." Wanda lowered the leg that was on his shoulder and pulled the dress over his head. Steve wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before standing up to kiss her. Steve lowered his jeans and his boxers, and lifted Wanda up so her legs wrapped around his waist.

With one gentle push, he was surrounded by her slick heat. Steve moaned deep in his throat and Wanda buried her head in his shoulder so her warm breath panted on his skin as he moved inside her. His lips caressed the side of her neck and Wanda lifted her neck so he could kiss the milky column and drag his teeth along her skin.

What amazed her was that in spite of the wind and the chill in the air, Steve's body was so hot and comforting. She hated the cold. It reminded her of winter in Novi Grad too much, especially since the cold had nearly killed her. Yet this chill did not bother her. Her first time had been in a cold building, and while it was nice, Wanda could never declare that experience to be the best she had. Steve was far more adventurous than even she had anticipated. While she loved the safety and security of Steve's robust frame against hers, she also craved his desperation, wild and almost animalistic need.

"Wanda..." he mumbled into her shoulder. Wanda smiled as she tangled her fingers in his hair.

The wind howled past them, merging with their gentle moans and groans. They gave hot and insistent kisses on each other's lips as Steve began to roll her breast and pinch the nipple. Wanda sucked on his lip that sent a jolt down his spine.

Steve moved the hand down between them and began stroking her. Wanda gasped and dug her nails into his neck. He rolled her clit once, twice and on the third time she shattered. She just about gained hold of her senses when Steve cursed and released. For a moment, the two stayed in their position, breathing into each other's neck before Wanda unwrapped her legs from Steve's waist.

"That was…" she began.

"Yeah. That was something," he finished.

They both worked on getting redressed. Wanda pulled on her panties and tights in a less than dignified manner while Steve worked on buttoning up his jeans. Once done, they both sat with their backs against the trunk.

"Never done that before," Steve said as he wrapped his arm around Wanda.

"Well, considering that you and I have only slept with two people each, that does not surprise me," Wanda replied. "You know, there is a speech in _Wuthering Heights_ – a very famous one – where Cathy describes how her love for Heathcliff is like rocks. 'eternal, little visible delight but necessary'. Granted, those two are not exactly the best role models for romance. Both are obsessive and bring each other's downfall. Hell, she even says 'I _am_ Heathcliff' not 'I _love_ Heathcliff'. However, they are each other's soulmates. I never used to believe there was such thing as soulmates, but since you and I are two sides of the same coin, I think I may have found it with you."

"Me too."

"I don't think I'll ever stop feeling guilty about my role in Sokovia, but there is one thing I will not regret, and that is meeting you."

Steve smiled and kissed her on the forehead.

-o-

They arrived back in London a week later where the police seemed to have stopped searching the area that surrounded their flat. Wanda breathed a sigh of relief as she walked through the corridors beside Steve who was brandishing the keys to the door. Only he stopped short when he heard the sound of music from the other side of the door.

' _Shoot to thrill, play to kill, Too many women with too many pills._ '

Steve looked at the rest of the group before carefully opening the door. If the song was any indication, he knew exactly who was behind the door.

"Tony."


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Tony Stark was sitting in the chair, his one hand playing with the disposable phone. Natasha and Wanda used their bodies as barriers to shield Bucky from Tony while Steve leaned against the wall.

"Nice set up you got here," Tony commented.

"I take it you are not here for small talk," Steve replied in an attempt to get straight to the point. "Why are you here Tony?"

"Saw your little Kremlin caper and then Wanda's little rescue on the news. It does not take long to hack into the old S.H.I.E.L.D archive to find safe houses in the surrounding area. Also you might want to rethink where you keep the spare key."

"So what are you going to do? Report us to Ross?" Sam asked.

"Well, Ross seems to have had a falling out with everyone, myself included. It turns out that he does not like to be hanged up on."

"It doesn't answer the question," Natasha stated. "Besides, how do you know it was us who broke into the Kremlin?"

"Instinct. Can't think of anyone else who could have a reason for breaking in. What did you steal?"

"It does not matter; it no longer exists."

"Shame could have been useful."

"It was nothing to do with arms, it was information about Leviathan. It was a personal matter."

"Okay, if you say so." Tony made a glance behind Wanda and Natasha and noticed Bucky standing there nervously. "So, I guess you're all wondering what happens next."

"You going to lock me in my room again?" Wanda asked bitterly. "Or are you going to restrain me in a straitjacket and shock me if I so much as breathe?"

"I'm sorry they did that."

"No you're not. You could have told them to take the jacket off and not use a shock collar, but you didn't. You just let them carry on torturing me."

"I get that I'm your least favourite person right now but you five are going to need my help."

"Why?" Steve asked.

"Ross is on the war path. He's determined to sign up more superhuman to the register."

"There's a register now?" Sam asked.

"These are just the latest to be signed up – a lot of them unwillingly." Tony handed Steve a tablet and Steve flicked through the names and pictures: Peter Parker, Stephen Strange, Daisy Johnson and Carol Danvers. "Just to name a few."

"So now the government is monitoring these people?" Steve asked.

"Pretty much."

"This is not right. This is like Project Insight all over again."

"If we're not careful, they'll send us into gulags," Natasha commented. "Not like the Americans did it to the Japanese-Americans."

"Problem they have is that there are a few who work under the shadows," Tony said. "Been down to Hell's Kitchen recently? Apparently in the last year, they've acquired a defenders and vigilantes of their own, as well as having strange experiences with mind control."

"How do you know about that and Ross doesn't?"

"The thing about The Devil of Hell's Kitchen is that he operates under the shadows. Ross has tried to capture him but no one seems to be able to get him."

"So what do you want us to do?" Steve asked.

"Nothing. I'm giving you a heads up. Problem with Ross is that he likes to think he is clever. Problem is that ambition does not often mean smart. However, he's not fond of super humans. Not after the mess that went down when The Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project went wrong."

"What's the Bio – whatsit?" Wanda asked.

"It's the reason Banner is the way he is," Natasha replied. "They tried to recreate the serum that enhanced Rogers but it did not go to plan."

"Wait, if he is partly responsible for the Hulk, then surely we can report this to the media. It could cause a scandal," Sam suggested.

"Even if Banner were here, he would be against it. It would not just involve Ross; it would drag his daughter into it as well. If we exposed it to the media, it would involve full-scale hearings."

"You know a lot about this," Tony pointed out.

"I was the one that was on the team that cleared up the mess after the Battle of Culver University and the Duel at Harlem. We picked up a lot of information about the origins from the Hulk from that."

"Fundamentally, he wanted another super-solider to control, and instead got something far out of his reach," Steve summarised. "This is not about collateral damage. It never has been. He does not like something he can't control."

"We could always keep his daughter out of it," Wanda suggested.

"She'll still be in a safe house somewhere, but if neither she or Banner can testify, then we have no hopes," Natasha replied. "Basically, we're fucked until we get another opportunity."

"Unless…" Bucky began. "Unless we break into his office."

"You kidding? Breaking into the Kremlin was one thing, but breaking into Ross's office is suicide," Sam retorted.

At that moment, there was a loud crash and some sort of gas filled the air. Wanda felt as though she was choking and then suddenly sleepy. She could hear thuds as her friends began to pass out on the floor around her before her knees eventually gave way.

-o-

Wanda groaned slightly as she woke feeling pain in her wrists. Once she had opened her eyes, she saw that she and the others were strapped to chairs and their wrists bound by rope. More than anything, they were confused. It did occur to her that she was in a dark, damp room that was only faintly lit by a handful of candles.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"You are in a basement Ms Maximoff," a voice answered. Even in here dazed state, Wanda could make out the voice was Russian and female, and her blood went cold. "So, who is going to be the one to squeal first?"

"Who are you?" Steve asked.

"Olga Klishina." The second Natasha heard the name, she froze. "I believe Ms Romanova recognises the name."

"Who is she?" Tony asked.

"She is the daughter of Ivor Klishina," Natasha replied. "He was the leader of Leviathan when the institution was burnt to the ground. He burnt with it."

"I don't get it," Sam said. "How did she manage to trace us?"

"It was not hard to work it out," Olga began. "Ms Romanova is the only person beside myself who would want the file. I wanted to know details of who could have committed my father's murder."

Everyone went silent. Bucky could feel the sweat forming on his brow. Steve made a quick glance at his friend before returning his attention to the blonde in front of him. He said, "Look, Olga, I'm sorry your father is dead, but revenge is not the best -"

"Oh this is not about revenge Captain Rogers. It's what someone would call justice."

"Some justice," Wanda murmured.

"So in the interest of being fair, I am going to free everyone but Natasha."

"Wait what?" Bucky asked.

"She is the most likely to have committed the murder. She has the most reason."

Bucky was confused as to why Natasha was not protesting, especially since he was the one that had burnt the building to a crisp. Maybe it was penance she was after, but she did not deserve to be killed for something she had not part in. Just as Olga was about to untie Bucky he confessed, "It was me. I burnt down Leviathan. I killed your father. I was under orders by HYDRA. They wanted to eliminate the competition."

Everyone looked at Bucky like he had lost his mind, Steve especially. It was as though his friend was asking to be killed. Olga seemed to believe him and put a gun to the back of his head. Wanda's heart started racing at the prospect of watching Bucky be killed and her hands suddenly felt warm. Then a thought went into her head and she used her powers to untie the rope around her wrist and then the others. Without thinking, Wanda got out of her seat and ran to Olga, pulling her arm away from Bucky's head, only Olga pulled the trigger.

Wanda was only faintly aware of the pain in her stomach and then it suddenly felt damp. She looked down and saw what looked to be a dark patch of blood forming on her dress. Then the shock overcame her and slowly her legs gave way. Before she could completely fall to the ground, she felt someone catch her and lower her gently.

"Okay kid, easy there," Tony said as he helped Steve lay her down.

"Wanda, can you hear me?" Steve asked as he pulled off his jumper. He balled it up and put it over the wound. Natasha and Sam in the meantime had worked on restraining Olga. "We need to get her out of here."

"We need an ambulance, she's losing too much blood." Steve nodded and told Bucky to come to them. Bucky was still in a state of shock and almost immobile. "Barnes now!"

Bucky snapped out of his trance and went over to them. "What do you need me to do?"

"Hold the sweater there," Steve said. "Wanda listen, we're going to get you out of here. It might hurt but try to hold on okay? Tony you grab her legs." With Bucky holding onto the sweater, Steve and Tony managed to carry Wanda out of the building, lay her on the ground. "Come on baby, stay with me."


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

 _There was something vaguely familiar about the texture of the sheets Wanda was sleeping on and it confused her slightly as she sat up. She glanced at the sheets, noticing the red flower pattern and then she looked at the beside table. A copy of_ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets _lay with a bookmark about four fifths of the way through. Then there was the smell of bread – pumpernickel bread – permeating through the walls of the apartment._

 _She climbed out of bed and padded on bare feet to the kitchen. She stopped when she saw a man sitting at the table, reading a newspaper and a woman standing at the cooker. The man looked up and smiled at Wanda._

 _"Morning schatz," Django said._

 _"Dad?" Wanda asked. The woman turned and Wanda asked, "Mum?"_

 _"Honey, why do you look so confused?" Maryam asked setting the freshly baked bread on the table._

 _Wanda sat down and replied, "I just thought... I was shot. The last thing I remember is seeing..."_

 _"Well you look fine to me."_

 _"This place. It's exactly how I remember it. Exactly how it was the day..." Wanda froze before she pressed her fingers against her neck. "I have no pulse."_

 _"Who doesn't have a pulse?" a voice asked. Wanda turned her head and saw Pietro padding in and rubbing his eyes. Rather than the white hair he died with, his hair was dark._

 _"This is a hallucination isn't it?" Wanda asked. "This is my brain trying to cling onto something significant. I'm dying aren't I?"_

-o-

"Female, twenty-four, GSW to the abdomen," the paramedic announced as they pushed the gurney containing Wanda through A&E. Steve chased them, clutching onto his blood soaked sweater. "She's lost a lot of blood and she's coded once in the ambulance. Pulse is faint."

They pushed her into a private room where they began work on getting her set up with IVs and heart monitors. Steve could only stand at the side and watch as the doctors began work on locating the source of the bleeding. The heart monitor started to rapidly beep and a crash cart was brought into the room. Her heart was shocked twice before her heart resorted a normal rhythm.

"Okay, I think I got the bleeder. Let's get her to the OR," the lead doctor said as they pushed her gurney out of the room.

Only one doctor came to explain to Steve what was happening. "We are taking her down to surgery to clear up the wounded area and remove the bullet. She has lost a lot of blood so it is fifty-fifty at this point."

Steve pleaded, "Please save her."

-o-

 _"I'm not sure what you are talking about Wanda," Pietro said._

 _"This apartment is exactly how it was the day the shell hit the building. I remember that day clearly in my head. Don't you remember?" Wanda asked._

 _Wanda saw Pietro glance at where their parents were sitting and the setting of the table had changed. For one there was salad in the middle. However, neither of their parents were sitting in the chair. Wanda went over to the chairs and gasped when she saw what looked to be a pile of ashes in their place._

 _"They just do that sometimes," Pietro commented nonchalantly._

 _"Does this mean that you will break out in bullet holes?"_

 _"It happens. So what happened?"_

 _"I was shot. Just the once. In my stomach. The last thing I remember was Steve's face."_

 _"Some thing you two have become."_

 _"You know about us?"_

 _"I could see it in your face. You smiled slightly when you mentioned Steve. Does he make you happy?"_

 _"More than I have been in years."_

 _"Then it's okay for you two to carry on, if you wake up from this."_

 _"If…" Wanda sat down and put her head in her hands. It had never occurred to her that she may die from her injury. It was just an impulse to save her friend from death. She hated to think about Bucky blaming himself, or Tony blaming Bucky for her current state. "Did it hurt? When you died?"_

 _"For a moment. After it just felt like falling asleep."_

 _"We could have saved you. We could have given you a fighting chance."_

 _"And then what Wanda? I was shot through the heart, liver, spleen and lungs, and my spine was severed. It may have been a fighting chance, but it would ultimately be a waste."_

 _"I should have been there. I should have been with you when you died."_

 _"Well, you want to know what my last thought was: that I had made you proud. I know it would have caused you pain, but I knew you would have been proud of me saving the life of that little boy."_

 _"I was. I was so proud."_

 _"And I am proud of you for what you have become."_

 _Wanda stood and put her hands on Pietro's shoulders. He felt so solid, and so real. Pietro then gasped and Wanda looked down and saw the bullet holes over his body. Then he no longer felt so solid and he faded from her quickly. Wanda's breath hitched and she began shaking._

-o-

It had been years since Bucky had last thrown up. His senses had gone into overdrive and yet again, someone was lying on death's door because of the things he had done. Wanda did not have to save him admittedly, but he knew that none of them would have let him die without a fight. Except maybe Tony.

"It's not your fault," Steve said quietly.

"You kidding right? Wanda is lying on a metal table being cut open because of me," Bucky replied bitterly.

"It was not you who burnt down the building."

"I physically did it. It was my body that did it. The fact of the matter is Steve is that I am not worth all this. I was not worth splitting the Avengers up, and I was not worth being saved in place of Wanda."

"She's not dead Bucky."

"And what if she does Steve, are you going to forgive me for it?"

"You did not pull the trigger."

"I may as well have."

Steve took a deep breath and helped Bucky to his feet. "Come on. All we can do is wait."

Wait they did. Everyone was in silence as they awaited news of Wanda. After two hours, someone finally came to them. "Sir, can you come with me please?" Steve took a deep breath as he got up and followed the surgeon to a room where Wanda was lying, still slightly sedated, as white as the sheets around her and with a cannula in her nose. "She's stable for the moment, but we will have to go back in to fix the damage. However, we need to talk about something that is rather delicate. Most of the damage was in her uterus and it is still bleeding as we speak. The likelihood of her being able to maintain a pregnancy would be almost impossible, and with the bleeding, we'll have to perform a hysterectomy."


	10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

"Okay baby, we're home," Steve said as he gently led Wanda into the flat. It had been a week and a half since Wanda was shot and her uterus removed. When the doctors told her that they had to do a hysterectomy, Wanda was heartbroken. She cried hysterically for at least a day, which caused concern that she could hurt herself further. Since then, she had become depressed. They had not diagnosed her with clinical depression, instead insisting that it was like a grieving process. Steve had done his best but he could not help but feel grief as well, even though it was not him who had to be cut open. "So, you still have to rest. Don't worry about everything else. We have it covered."

Wanda nodded. As soon as she entered the apartment, she immediately went to lie down in the bedroom. The incision was still sore and at risk of tearing if she overworked herself. As well, the painkillers were making her groggy, though Steve put that down partly to the grief. As soon as she lay down, Steve lay next to her.

"When I was little, I used to love the idea of having children. I thought I would have at least three," she said.

"There is always adoption."

"Perhaps, but not now."

Wanda rolled over so she was facing away from him. Steve leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. He whispered, "Okay. You just sleep."

While he let Wanda sleep, he thought of a way to cheer her up. He could not consider himself an expert in Eastern European cuisine, but he could at least have a go at cooking paprikash. He grabbed some chicken drumsticks, paprika, onions and sour cream. He had seen Wanda cook it before, and he had a photographic memory so it was not a difficult process. He heard the door open and Tony came strolling in bearing a gift bag.

"You still here?" Steve asked.

"It's not as though I have much to go back to at the moment."

"You and Pepper still off?"

"Pep's angry obviously but we have to work something out because she wants – no needs - to speak to me about something." Tony put the gift bag on the counter. He pulled what looked to be a snow globe of Buckingham Palace. "Thought it might work as a peace offering."

"You really think that'll be enough?"

"Nah, I just thought it would make her laugh."

"As soon as Wanda is well enough to travel, we'll come back to New York. Hide out in the Tower."

"That's suicide."

"If we stay here any longer, we're going to get caught. Ross is not stupid; he'd going to work it out sooner or later."

"And hiding in a tower that is our HQ isn't obvious?"

"Well you did say that he was not as smart as he likes to think."

"I think Barnes may be on the right track about breaking into Ross's office though." At that point, Steve dropped the spoon he was holding. "What?"

"You agreeing with Bucky. Three months ago you were hell bent on killing him."

"Look, you know I can put aside differences when something else is important. We'd have to plan it really well."

"You are going to need my help."

"I'm willing to wait. At least until Wanda has fully recovered." Steve gave a small smile as he returned to the dish. "How is she?"

"Physically she's getting there. Emotionally..."

"A mess?"

"I would not go that far, but she's depressed and I don't know how long she's going to be this way. And I can't tell her to snap out of it because she just lost her ability to chose."

"You could get Romanoff to talk to her."

"Maybe. They did give her a bunch of pamphlets about it but it would be better for her to talk to someone in the same boat."

-o-

As much as Wanda appreciated Steve's effort to cheer her up, it was not enough. She still felt very down, and she hated feeling like this way. After she had finished her dinner, she grabbed a blanket and a book, and went up to the roof. As she quietly read _Jane Eyre_ , Natasha came up with a bottle of wine and a cup of tea. Natasha observed how different Wanda looked. There was something about her that made her look simultaneously childlike and ancient. Her face bore evidence of her youth, yet her eyes looked as though they were years far beyond Wanda's.

"I did not know if you can drink with your painkillers, but I brought up two glasses just in case," she said sitting beside Wanda.

"Has Steve sent you to check I've not thrown myself off the roof?" Wanda asked.

"Not exactly that, but he did want me to talk to you. Mostly since I am the only person who understands how you feel. You know about what they did to you at the graduation ceremony in the Red Room and I was no exception."

"I take it that it does not make it any easier."

"Not really. I was just a child, and they did it to make me a monster."

"Do you think you are a monster?"

"You know, I spoke to Loki and he asked if I can wipe out all the red, and I don't think I can. But, what you need to know is what happened to you was not your fault. It's no one's fault but Olga's."

"But I should have been careful where I pointed the gun."

"Look, not being able to have children is not the end of the world. I regret being sterilised but that's only because I would have liked the choice. I may not have wanted a child, but it does not mean I would not have liked the choice should it have arisen."

"The thing is Nat, since I was ten I have dreamt of just having a happy family."

"You can still have that."

"So could you."

"The thing about that is that I am not exactly mother material. I love Barton's kids but all I can be is their fun aunt. That's the choice I have come to accept. Now what you do is entirely up to you."

"I feel as though I have let Steve down as well."

"He's heartbroken, but it's mostly for you. If you are worried he will leave you, then don't. Rogers is not going to leave you for someone with a fruitful uterus."

"I know. He's been so good to me."

"You sound surprised."

Wanda smiled slightly for the first time in two weeks.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

After a month, Wanda was cleared to travel. The stitched had been removed, which left an angry red line on her lower belly. Wanda hated it. Like the scar on her leg, it was an ugly reminder of the ordeal she had gone through. It was a constant reminder that she could not bear children.

As soon as he could, Steve booked a flight back to New York. While he knew how dangerous this could be, he knew that Tony was going to need some help with breaking into Ross's office. He did debate whether he should allow Wanda to join them on the mission given that she was still healing and whether she was useful for the mission as a whole. Then Wanda made the choice for him.

"I'm not joining you," she said plainly. "I'm too much of a liability."

"No you're not," Steve replied.

"Let's face it, if I get scared, I am going to expose all of us. That and I don't think I am ready." Steve nodded and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. Wanda smiled against his lips and cupped his face gently. "Steve, thank you."

"For what?"

"Just being there for me this last month. I could never have coped this last month or so without you."

"Hey, I love you. I will always be there for you when you need me."

"So how do you feel about returning home?"

"Nervous. I know we're still going to be in hiding and we have a fifty percent chance of taking Ross down. If it goes badly wrong then there is going to be consequences, especially since people like us are being monitored."

"I think they will have bugged the Tower."

"You may have a point there. We'll work something out. Another S.H.I.E.L.D safe house maybe."

"Steve, are you sure we are doing the right thing?"

"We have to try in order to keep us all safe."

-o-

"So this is it then?" Wanda asked when she looked around the living room of the new safe house. It looked smaller than the one in London, only two bedrooms. Bucky would get the one room while Steve and Wanda would share the other. Sam and Natasha had taken another safe house.

"For the time being," Steve replied wrapping his arms around her waist. "It's going to be okay. I promise."

"I hate it when people say that. As soon as they do, it all goes wrong."

"Listen, Tony and Pepper are coming over in a moment. Let's just clear away some of these bags." Once they had cleared away the bags, Wanda began to prepare some tea and coffee for their guests when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it."

Wanda had a sense that there was still tension between Pepper and Tony, mostly from the distance between them as they sat on the couch. Wanda knew there was something different about Pepper the second she walked through the door. She looked exhausted more than anything, though given the drama surrounding the Sokovia Accords and the split in the Avengers, Wanda imagined that trying to clear up the Stark Industries part of the mess was draining on her.

"You look well Pepper," Wanda commented as she lay the cups on the coffee table. She winced slightly as she bent down due to her healing wound and she had to sit down. "Sorry. Stomach ache."

"So, how is everything?" Steve asked.

"We're good. We've got back together," Pepper replied.

"Oh, good," Wanda replied. "Is that all?"

"Yep, that's everything," Tony answered quickly. "Listen Rogers, I need to speak to you now. Wanda, Pep is taking you out for lunch."

Steve nodded. Wanda grabbed her back and followed Pepper out the apartment. By the time they got to the café, Wanda had started to get suspicious when Pepper ordered an orange juice and a bacon, turkey and chicken sandwich.

"You usually get wine with your lunch," Wanda commented.

"Sweetie, I don't really know how to tell you this," Pepper began.

"You're pregnant aren't you?"

Pepper nodded, "Four months. It happened just before we took a break."

"Congratulations." Wanda felt a pang in her chest, almost as hard as the one that she felt when the doctor told her about the hysterectomy. It was not as though she was not happy for Pepper; she was. It was just poor timing. "Do you know what it is yet?"

"Not yet. I'm sorry Wanda."

"It's fine. Just because I can't have children does not mean everyone else around me can't get pregnant." Wanda took a swift sip of her drink. She really was not trying to show how much it was affecting her because she did not want Pepper to feel guilty about what should be a happy moment, especially under the circumstances. "So how is Tony taking it?"

"Well, I can't say he was not shocked. I actually thought he was going to have a heart attack. But we're going to try to make it work. We've had problems but that was because we were struggling to start a family. So maybe now it's happening we can get back to normal."

"Can we all get back to normal though?"

"We can try."

-o-

"Did you bring those face things?" Tony asked as he loaded up the computer.

"The veils? Yeah," Steve replied. "So what is your plan?"

"Ross and I have a meeting on Monday. While that meeting is taking place, Romanoff is going to break into his office and hack his computer. We get the information and then we get out."

"So what am I doing?"

"We need you to find the hard copies."

"Tony this is mad."

"Rogers it is either this or you keep hiding. It's your choice."

Steve sighed. "Okay, what time is this meeting?"


	12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

"You ready to do this?" Natasha asked Steve as they walked up to the Capitol Building. Natasha had the veil disguising her face while Steve had glasses and a smart suit on.

"As I'll ever be," Steve replied.

"Okay, we have a half an hour opportunity to get as much information as we can. Stark is keeping us posted on how long we have. Odds are Ross will throw a hissy fit and storm out the conference room before the meeting is over."

Steve took a deep breath as he strolled casually into the building. Once they got past security, they split up. Steve went to the elevator, pressed the down button. Another worker stood beside him and nodded. Steve nodded back and waited for the door to open. Once it was open, he travelled down to the file floor. However, he was confronted with a barrage of security. Turns out that their little escapade in Moscow had caused ripples of increased security.

"Authorisation please," the burliest one ordered. Steve handed the card to him. The guard scanned it. Steve could hear his heart pounding in his ears as he waited for the verdict. Eventually the light flashed red. "This is saying your ID is fake."

"Right, well, that's unfortunate," Steve commented.

Before he could be restrained, Steve grabbed the arm of the guard and elbowed him in the face. The other guard went to grabbed Steve but Steve punched him before he could. He threw the third one against the wall.

Once the guards were on the ground, Steve grabbed one of their cards and scanned it. The scanner turned green and the door opened.

"Okay, I'm in," he said over the coms. "You know what we're looking for?"

"Registration Act, Accords, Sokovia and any of our names," Natasha replied. "Need you to be quicker about this Steve."

"I got held up."

Steve found the appropriate files, including ones for himself, Bucky and Wanda. There was a lot to carry out but thankfully his briefcase could just about fit it all in. The guards were still unconscious and Steve stepped over them to make a quick get away from the floor.

"Nat, you done yet?" he asked.

"Just a moment. I need to download...and done. Okay, let's get out of here."

-o-

"So what do we have?" Tony asked when he sat next to Natasha, who was scanning through the documents on the computer.

"Not a great lot, but it's interesting. Especially this bit in the Registration Act," Natasha answered highlighting a particular paragraph. "This suggests that once the enhanced being has been registered, they are now the property of the US Government and therefore they allow themselves to be subjected to medical testing and any offspring that should arise is the property of the government."

"Wait, does that mean that they are endorsing experiments on children?" Steve asked.

"Pretty much. I don't know what qualifies them but to me that does not sound good."

"I think that might be the understatement of the century," Tony quipped.

"Well, it's not as though your child will be in the at risk category."

"When they say enhanced, do they mean biologically?" Wanda asked.

"More than likely. Recently they have been targeting people who are called Inhuman. They derive from an ancient alien bloodline and have individual abilities."

"How can they tell the Inhumans apart from the rest of us? Pietro and I got ours via the Mind Gem, Steve had a serum, Peter Parker was bitten by a spider."

"I don't know, but there has been a surge in the last couple of years. Turns out the thing that exposes their power was found in fish oil capsules."

Sam then burst out laughing. "Sorry, it's just the idea that someone getting superpowers from cod liver oil."

"So what are we going to do with all this then?" Bucky asked.

"We have to expose all this. There is no way anyone would support child experimentation," Steve replied.

"So we are not giving any warning?" Sam asked.

"Of course not. He deserves no warning," Wanda retorted.

"The thing is Wanda, we can't just do it now. It'll be too obvious," Steve countered.

"Besides, if we're going to expose this, we have to do it with style," Natasha said. "Stark."

"Ross is announcing the global expansion of the Registration Act on Friday. If we expose it there, then he has nowhere to hide when the questions start coming," Tony explained.

"That actually sounds genius," Sam commented. "So what are we going to do?"

"At 13:00 Friday, Ross will take the stand outside UN Headquarters to make his speech. There will be a giant screen behind him with a PowerPoint presentation in the background. At 13:01, we send an e-mail to all the press that will be attending the press announcement with the file we just stole. We highjack the feed and explain what exactly Ross intends to do."

"Question is, who do we make our spokesperson?" Steve asked. Everyone looked at him as though the answer was obvious. "Tony would you like to do it?"

"I thought you would never ask. So who has a camera?"

-o-

Wanda shuffled her way through the bustling crowd to get a good view of the platform in front of the steps leading into the Capitol Building. She, Steve and Sam were mingling in the crowd, wanting to watch the realisation on Ross's face when he knew the game was up. Bucky, Natasha and Tony were back at the apartment, waiting for 13:01. Wanda had never felt so nervous. If it went perfectly, then Ross would lose his job in disgrace. If it went wrong, then she could find herself back on the Raft with the torture being significantly worse.

 _"You guys ready?"_ Natasha asked.

 _"As we'll ever be,"_ Steve replied.

As soon as the clock stuck 13:00, Ross tapped the microphone and began his speech with the PowerPoint in the background. Then a minute into the presentation, the screen started flickering and Tony's face appeared beside a projection of the files.

" _Greetings, in a slight departure from our programed schedule, I, Tony Stark, am here to bring you some information that Secretary Ross is planning of omitting from his speech. You should all be receiving an e-mail right about now. Now, in case you are confused, these are the genuine plans for the Registration Act. It is not as innocent as Mr Ross likes to make out. In fact, there are more serious issues that he decided to approve. These include the loss of agency that people like Captain America and Wanda Maximoff in their own bodies. As soon as they sign the register, their bodies belong to the government. The US government has full ownership of their organs and their offspring. So much so that should a child be produced, then the US government would experiment on the child. Now, I don't know about you, but I think that is wrong. Children are not things; we are not things. More details in the e-mail. Does anyone have any questions?"_

The whole area was silent and Steve could not help but smirk when he saw Ross's dumbfounded face. Then the press started snapping photographs and talking over one another to get straight answers. The bodyguards pulled Ross away from the platform and Wanda breathed a sigh of relief that their ordeal would be finally over.

-o-

"Right, a toast, to our success and our freedom at last," Tony declared raising his glass of whisky. The others joined and then sipped their own drinks. With Pepper and Wanda unable to drink, they were sticking mostly to diet cola. "Now, we can put all this stuff behind us and move on."

"Absolutely," Steve replied.

Wanda smiled softly then excused herself from the festivities and went to sit on the balcony. She, more than anyone, felt relief that it was over. She could finally walk around like herself for the most part. She did not have to worry about being incarcerated again. The last few months had been a roller-coaster. Forming a relationship with Steve had been wonderful. The loss of her fertility had been terrible, and it might be something she would never recover from.

"You okay?" Bucky asked joining her.

"Yes. I just wanted to think for a bit," Wanda replied. "I'm just glad it's over."

"Me too. Wanda, I'm sorry. It's my fault that you-"

"Don't you dare. You do not start blaming yourself for things that were never your fault. You did not pull the trigger. It was my choice to save you."

"Am I really worth it?"

"Of course. You're the closest family that Steve has and there is no way you are worthless."

Bucky smiled and then Steve knocked on the window. Bucky then got up. "I'll give you two a moment."

Bucky left the balcony and Steve took his place, "You okay?"

"Better than I have been in a long while. Maybe we can get back to normal."

"Listen, Wanda. Now that it's over, there was something that I wanted to ask you." Steve took both her hands and got on his knees in front of Wanda. Wanda could feel her heart racing and then Steve asked the question, "Will you marry me?"


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

"So, I was thinking that you could have a purple sash around the waist," Pepper said as she pointed to a wedding dress in a catalogue.

"Why do I need a sash?" Wanda asked.

"I just thought it looked pretty."

"Maybe. I'll have a think about it. Besides, if I do, it'll be red. Anyway, I need to get ready for a date first."

"A date?"

"Well, it's the first time we've go out together since… you know. I just need to focus on small steps."

"Is that why you have a pamphlet about foster care?" Pepper lifted up the pamphlet on the kitchen table.

"Natasha gave it to me as a suggestion but we need to get back on track before we can even consider the possibility of children. And that is still a possibility."

"So what are you two planning tonight?"

"Dinner then a movie. Problem is that I don't know what to wear. Most of the stuff I own is day dresses and the only fancy dress I have is one I already have worn."

"I would not wear a dress if that was the case. I would go with some nice trousers and boots."

"You think that'll work?"

"Believe me, the last thing you want when you're sitting through a two hour movie is pulling your skirt down every two minutes. Besides. Trousers can be sexy."

"I take it we're going shopping then."

"I heard shopping spree," Natasha said coming into the kitchen.

-o-

Even though leather trousers were part of her Scarlet Witch outfit, Wanda had never considered wearing them as part of an everyday outfit. She was not sure that they felt comfortable bearing in mind what Pepper had said about being in a cinema for two hours. She then tried some black skinny jeans and felt more comfortable. She picked out a loose grey t-shirt, a red scarf and black studded boots to go with it and went to the counter to pay. Natasha joined her.

"I'm going to Russia. I have decided to meet my mother," Natasha announced.

"You serious?"

"I think she needs to know I am alive. I can't say it will be an easy reunion, so that is why I would like you to come to Volgograd with me. For moral support. You've been the best support I have had since we found the file."

Wanda smiled. "Of course. It's what friends are for."

"By the way, we may need to drag Pepper away from the baby stuff before her hormones make her want to buy the whole department."

-o-

Wanda promised to meet Steve at a local Indian restaurant and she sighed nervously. It would be the first time they would have gotten some time alone since she was shot, and it was not as though she was nervous about the date. She was more nervous about what they could talk about. They had been trying to avoid discussing the hysterectomy, instead trying to focus on the wedding. Even then that was rather far away. They could at least focus on small steps such as getting their relationship back to where it was. The last time they had made love was by the tree on the Yorkshire Moors. Maybe that night would be the night that they start making love again, now that the doctor had given her the all clear.

Steve was waiting outside the restaurant and grinned when he saw Wanda in new clothes. "You look great. I take it these are new."

"Pepper and Natasha took me shopping. So shall we eat?"

"Yes, I am starving."

"You're always starving."

"High metabolism baby."

"Well, I have not eaten all day so let me eat everything I can get my hands on okay."

The host led them to their seats and handed them a menu. Steve chose a lamb biryani while Wanda had a chicken tikka masala. After their meal arrived, Wanda told Steve about her plan to go to Volgograd.

"You sure you want to go?" he asked.

"Nat needs the support and she has done so much for me the last few months. She's my best friend, and she would do the same for me if I was in that position."

"If you are sure. It's funny. Never been to Stalingrad."

"Not even in the War?"

"Nah. We were mainly in Europe trying to bring down HYDRA. I should have known that there was a HYDRA base in the USSR somewhere."

"I think HYDRA are done for."

"You never know Wanda. Cut a head off, two grow in its place."

"So what are you going to do now? You going back to work at the facility?"

"It's an idea. You could join us again."

"I don't know about that. I'm not exactly safe to be around."

"Hey, come on. We've talked about this. You can't let people get to you like that."

"I was not you that was being branded a weapon of mass destruction. I might be out of my depth as a hero."

"Wanda you are just as good and brave a fighter as all of us. You can't let mistakes get you down. You have to pick yourself up and fight until the end. You've done it before. After Pietro died, and that is much harder to bounce back from. Trust me, I know because that is what Peggy told me after I thought I lost Bucky."

Wanda sipped her drink and nodded, "I'll think about it."

"Good, because you are an asset to the team. Anyway, I wanted to give you something. It's a long time coming." Steve pushed over a small velvet box and Wanda opened it to reveal a diamond ring. "I thought let's make it official."

Wanda smiled, "It's beautiful. I love it Steve." She took the ring and slipped it on her finger, before moving closer to him and kissed him on the lips. "I think we should skip the movie and go to bed."

"That is great plan."

-o-

It was so gentle. Even though she wanted to, Wanda felt self-conscious. The healing scar on her stomach still felt ugly to her; both because of what it symbolised and its angry red appearance. Yet Steve slowly undressed her, avoiding contact with the scar, and kissed her body ever so softly. Their bodies moulded together as they were joined.

Rather than their animalistic love making that they experienced before, this was more re-establishing the connection they had. That first night where they had spilled their hearts out about losing those close to them had been the connection that had sealed them together in the first place.

* * *

 **So there is a deleted scene from Civil War where Natasha tells Steve that she had already gone to Russia to find her parents but they were already dead. I was not aware this existed when I started this story line, but I am going to continue this plot nonetheless.**


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

"You sure you have everything?" Steve asked as he, Wanda and Natasha were in the check-in area of JFK Airport.

"Yes, we're all good. Don't worry. We'll call when we have landed in Moscow," Wanda reassured as she kissed Steve yet again.

Natasha was rolling her eyes and tapping her foot as she waited for Steve and Wanda to stop being smoochy with one another. "Okay Rogers, we have a plane to catch. Let her go."

Steve pecked Wanda's lips and forehead before she had to pull away and follow Natasha to the departure lounge. Once on the plane, Wanda tried to breathe through the take-off. She hated flying. She hated when the turbulence hit and the plane shook. It made her fear that the plane was going to crash. Natasha took Wanda's hand and squeezed it before the panic attack kicked in.

"It's going to be okay. We're going to fine. We'll land in Moscow safe and sound," Natasha reassured.

"Talk about something else please," Wanda ordered.

"So, how is everything in the bedroom now?"

"Better. I still feel self-conscious but I am getting better. The problem is that we're not as adventurous as we were before I was shot. At first I was fine with us being gentle but I would like us to get back to normal."

"Maybe you should tell him."

"It is a bit of an awkward conversation."

"Okay, I suggest you surprise him. Wear some very sexy underwear and let him take you roughly."

"I'll think about it. Right now, we need to think about what you are going to say to your mother."

"I'll think about it. Need to think in peace."

-o-

They eventually arrived in Volgograd a day later. It had been years since Natasha had set eyes on the place she was born. It was a strange place. It felt so different from home.

"You okay?" Wanda asked as they approached the apartment block Natasha had spent her early years.

"No."

"Listen, do you want me in the room with you? I just think this should be a private moment."

"I'd like you to be in the apartment. Maybe not in the same room but at least in the next room."

Wanda nodded and they entered the block. They got to number six before Natasha stopped and apprehensively knocked the door. After a moment, a woman in her fifties, with greying red hair and blue eyes opened the door. Natasha's heart began pounding. Even Wanda's breath hitched as Natasha finally spoke in Russian, "Zdravstvuy Mama."

Natasha's mother eventually reacted and looked as though she had seen a ghost. Eventually, she put her hand on Natasha's face and Wanda noticed the tears brewing in the older woman's eyes. Eventually, she pulled her daughter in for a hug.

"Moya doch, moya devochka, moya dorogaya!" she exclaimed. Wanda then saw Natasha starting to cry into a mother's shoulder.

They were invited inside and Wanda was allowed to sit with them. She did not speak much Russian so could just about make out the conversation from a few overlapping words, however she could tell that Natasha was lying when the word CIA came up. Wanda could not blame Natasha for lying to her mother. Even she would have a hard job trying to explain to her parents that she had been involved in an experiment by HYDRA.

Natasha may have had a point when she had told Wanda that she would not be able to explain to her mother what the Red Room had made her. Wanda wondered if her mother had seen Natasha on the television, fighting in New York, but given she would have contacted sooner, it was unlikely.

When they eventually left, Wanda asked, "You ever going to tell her?"

"No. I don't think she would ever forgive me."

-o-

"Do you reckon that your mother would be proud of what you have become?" Wanda asked Steve in bed the night she returned back to New York.

"I like to think so. Maybe she would scold me for throwing myself head first into danger," he replied. "However, I think she'd be proud."

"I don't think my parents would be. For many reasons."

"Hey, I think they would be proud that you saved the world. I don't know whether they would be proud about how you got your powers but who knows, maybe the ends justify the means."

"You know that I did not know it was HYDRA right?"

"I know. HYDRA are not ones to advertise themselves." Steve climbed into bed and snuggled against her. "You sleepy?"

"Not quite." Wanda straddled Steve's hips and began to kiss his forehead, and kissed down to his lips where he pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. "You relax."

"What do you have planned?"

"Something that'll blow your mind."

Wanda kissed along his jaw, then down Steve's neck. He closed his eyes and let out a low moan as Wanda's soft lips moved lower, down his chest and abdomen. Her fingers played with the waistband of his boxers and could feel his erection beginning to rise through the fabric.

Steve elevated his hips so Wanda could remove his boxers and Wanda wrapped her hand around his semi-erect cock. She started to stroke him until he was fully hard. She licked her lips and then wrapped her lips around the tip. Steve's breath hitched and his hand went to the back of her head, stroking her hair as she alternated between licks and sucks.

With her free hand, she cupped on of his bum cheeks and gave it a tight squeeze. Before Wanda knew it, she found her mouth moving along his length and she could hear him whispering the saints names. It did make her chuckle, which sent vibrations through Steve's spine and he gasped hard.

She had barely done anything and Steve was close to coming undone. Just as he began to unravel, Wanda pulled away and Steve groaned.

"You are evil."

Wanda laughed, pulled her nightgown off and said, "And what are you going to do about that?"

Steve grabbed her waist and flipped Wanda onto her stomach. Wanda got onto her hands and knees, and Steve ever so softly slid into her. Wanda gasped and her hands clutched the fabric of the sheets as Steve began thrusting deep inside her. She could not help but whimper as Steve hit the right spot. Wanda bit her lip and Steve gripped her hips tighter. He was pressing so hard into her flesh that he was bound to leave bruises but Wanda did not care.

"Harder," she moaned.

Steve obeyed and began pounding into her. The room mingled with the smell of sex and moans and groans. Steve's hands moved from her hips to her breasts, and he squeezed and pinched the mounds. Eventually his other hand moved to her centre and he rolled her clit. She moaned loudly and Wanda felt a jolt down her spine as she released. Finally, Steve reached the climax he so desperately needed.

Wanda's arms felt like jelly and she collapsed face first into the pillow. Steve pulled out of her and he fell to the side of the bed, sweating and panting.

"Fuck," he whispered. "We haven't done that in a while."

Wanda chuckled and leaned over to kiss him on the lips. "Maybe we should make it more a permanent thing. I get why you have been gentle recently but I do miss the way we were."

"I just thought given how self-conscious you've been-"

"I am still self-conscious, but I think we need to get back to normal. I know the last few months have been hard – for me especially – but we have a wedding to plan and a whole future ahead so…"

Steve silenced her by kissing her on the lips. "Okay. Let's get back to normal."

"As normal as possible."


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Wanda took a deep breath as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair and makeup looked exquisite, and she loved the white dress she had chosen. Yet she could feel a bubble of nerves in her stomach. Today was going to be her wedding day. It would be the first day of the rest of her life. A life shared.

"You feeling okay?" Natasha asked.

"Nervous. It's natural to be nervous right?"

"Yeah. Of course it is. However, all you have to do is walk down that aisle and say I do."

Wanda nodded and took a deep breath. "I think I'm ready."

"Hold on, not quite." Natasha pulled a veil out of the box. It was not a large one, but a smaller one to match the knee-length white dress. Gently, she put the headband on Wanda's head and straightened the fabric out. "There. Perfect."

Wanda gave a small smile and took a deep breath. "Ready."

-o-

"You look nervous," Bucky commented.

"I am," Steve replied.

"You think she won't show up?"

"Of course not. It's just all this build-up and now it is the big day."

"Did you ever think you would get here?"

"Not until I was sure I loved Wanda."

"Sap."

Steve snorted just as the music began playing. He turned his head to the door at the back of the registry office where Wanda was proceeding up the aisle. He never looked so happy to see her and she never looked more beautiful.

It was only a simple service. A few guests and sincere words exchanged but finally Steve and Wanda were man and wife. Only before they could share their first kiss as a married couple, Pepper began yelling in pair.

"Oh shit! Baby! Baby on the way!" Tony yelled quickly grabbing Pepper's hand. "Ah shit!"

"What's wrong with you?" Pepper asked.

"There is this pain in my side. It really hurts."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"Tony you might need to get that checked out, that sounds serious," Natasha commented.

"It's just sympathy paaiins. Okay might need to get checked out."

-o-

"Well this is a peculiar party," Natasha commented as she offered her bag of chips around.

"That really was unexpected," Sam commented.

"Even more unexpected was Stark's appendix packing in. I knew there was no such thing as sympathy pains."

"That was way too well timed," Bucky commented.

"To be fair, she has been overdue for a week now. And you're just bitter you lost the pool."

In the meantime, Steve was waiting for news of Tony's surgery while Wanda was coaching Pepper through the contractions. There was a small part of her brain that felt the emptiness of never being able to experience childbirth but compared to what it was six months previously, she felt far better. The first bit of hope she and Steve had received was conformation of their foster carer status. If all went well, they could go onto formally adopt.

"You're doing well," Wanda commented.

"Really because I feel like this is never going to end."

"The doctor said you're seven centimetres."

"Jesus, where is Tony?"

"It's an appendectomy. It's a simple surgery."

"Wanda no offence but you are not a doctor."

Wanda took the insult, knowing that it was just the pain talking. "He'll be here soon. Don't worry."

-o-

Possibly the most comic thing to come out of the situation was that Tony had ran out of his own hospital bed, still rather doped-up on painkillers, to aid Pepper and he did not feel a thing when she gripped his hand like a vice.

Eventually, Stella Grace Stark made a loud appearance, just like Mom and Dad. As she was being introduced, Steve got a call and immediately they left to run to children's services at New York town hall.

"Ah Mr and Mrs Rogers. We have a young girl here who has been taken in by the authorities. Ellie is three. Her mother was in an accident last night and she has no other relatives to look after her."

"How is her mother?" Wanda asked.

"Not looking too good at the moment so social services thought it would be better for her to go into a foster home for the time being. She's in the play room at the moment if you would like to meet her."

Wanda nodded and they were led to the play room where a little girl with afro-textured black hair and brown eyes was sitting with a dolly and a house. Knowing they were under supervision, Steve gently approached the toddler.

"Hi Ellie," he said. "I'm Steve."

Wanda got to her knees so she was eye-level with Ellie. "I'm Wanda. I like your doll. What's her name?"

"Liccy."

"She's very pretty."

"I like your dress. It's like the ones on TV."

"Thank you. So, you are going to live with me and Steve for a while if that is okay with you."

"Are you going to be my new mommy and daddy?"

"If you like us to be. Though you can still call us Steve and Wanda if you feel more comfortable with that."

"Okay."

Ellie handed Liccy to Wanda and Wanda took that as a sign of trust. Steve pressed a kiss to the top of Wanda's head and the three continued to bond, taking a step forward to a new life.

The End


End file.
